Section 16
SEC. 16. Section twenty-four of the same Act is further amended by amending paragraphs (a), (b) and (c), and adding paragraph (f), to read as follows: "SEC. 24. Employment records and reports—Each employer shall immediately report to the SSS the names, ages, civil statuses, occupations, salaries and dependents of all his employees who are subject to compulsory coverage: Provided, That if an employee subject to compulsory coverage should die or become sick or disabled or reach the age of sixty without the SSS having previously received any report or written communication about him from his employer or a contribution paid in his name by his employer, the said employer shall pay to the SSS damages equivalent to the benefits to which said employee would have been entitled had his name been reported on time by the employer to the SSS, except that in the case of pension benefits, the employer shall be liable for the actuarial lump sum equivalent of both the basic and dependents' monthly pensions: Provided, further, That if the contingency occurs within thirty days from the date of employment, the employer shall be relieved of his liability for damages. (b) Should the employer misrepresent the true date of employment of his employees, fail to remit contributions or remit to the SSS contributions which are less than those required in this Act, resulting in a reduction of benefits, the employer shall pay to the SSS damaged to the extent of such reduction, but said employer shall be relieved of his civil liability for the corresponding unremitted contributions and penalties thereon. (c) The records and reports duly accomplished and submitted to the SSS by the employee or the employer, as the case may be, shall be kept confidential by the SSS except in compliance with a subpoena duces tecum issued by the Courts, shall not be divulged without the consent of the Administrator or any official of the SSS duly authorized by him, shall be presumed correct as to the data and other matters stated therein, unless the necessary corrections to such records and reports have been properly made by the parties concerned before the right to the benefit being claimed accrues, and shall be made the basis for the adjudication of the claim. If as a result of such injunction the SSS in good faith pays a monthly pension to a beneficiary who is inferior in right to another beneficiary or with whom another beneficiary is entitled to share, such payments shall discharge the SSS from liability, unless and until such other beneficiary notifies the SSS of his claim prior to the payments. (f) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, microfilm copies of original SSS records and reports, duly certified by the official custodian thereof, shall have the same evidentiary value as the originals and be admissible as evidence in all legal proceedings."