The House of Representatives approves Petro’s pension reform amid allegations of irregularities in the process.

The House of Representatives approved on Saturday afternoon the pension reform presented by the government of Gustavo Petro in its final debate. The majority of congress members decided to support a proposal to accept the text of the bill as it came from the Senate, just as they did on June 14 of last year. The reform, which was one of the main campaign promises of the president, received backing from the Historical Pact, the ruling party, and from congress members of the Common, Green, La U, Liberal, and Conservative parties. The president of the Corporation, Jaime Raúl Salamanca, stated that this new vote corrects the issues identified by the Constitutional Court that required the Legislative to redo the voting. Meanwhile, the opposition pointed out that there were new irregularities that the Constitutional Court must examine.

President Petro has celebrated the Congress’s decision. “We have triumphed. Long live the grandmothers and grandfathers of Colombia. The pension reform has been approved. I have fulfilled my promise, and the House of Representatives has fulfilled its duty,” he declared on X. A similar sentiment was echoed by the Minister of the Interior, Armando Benedetti, who referred to the approval occurring after a call for extraordinary sessions: “A little over 100 representatives came to fulfill their duty, to rectify a procedural flaw that the bill had (…) fortunately, there are people who work.” The Minister of Labor, Antonio Sanguino, emphasized that the reform “will make the right to a dignified old age a reality.”

Some representatives from opposition parties chose not to participate in the discussion and reported possible new irregularities in the process. The Democratic Center published a statement insisting that the announcement to vote on the reform is illegal because it was made Friday night without a quorum to approve the agenda. The Cambio Radical bench, which also abstained from the debate, agrees on the potential flaws. “We will not participate in the debate of the pension reform called irregularly for June 28, as due legislative process was violated. The call did not meet the legal requirements: it was not signed by the competent authorities, it was not notified three days in advance as required, and participation of the opposition was not guaranteed.”

Several independent congress members joined the criticism. Liberal representative Juan Carlos Losada expressed his discontent with the decision: “It is sad to once again end a legislative session in such a murky manner. The rush to call for a plenary session two hours before it starts creates a conflictual atmosphere with the representatives and what the Law 5 dictates.” Now, it is up to the Constitutional Court to decide whether this new vote rectifies the previous procedural flaws and to determine when the new law will come into effect.

If the high court gives its approval, the reform will fundamentally transform the pension system for millions of Colombians. Competition between Colpensiones and private funds, which until now have different rules for pension access and determination of amounts, will be eliminated. The two regimes will be integrated into a single system, similar to what happens in other countries worldwide. To achieve that objective, the new old-age protection system is divided into three pillars: the solidarity pillar, which aims to provide monetary transfers to vulnerable elderly people in conditions of poverty; the semi-contributory pillar, aimed at people in informal employment who do not meet the requirements for pension access but have contributed at some points; and the contributory pillar, which includes those who contribute steadily to their pension.

The text approved in Congress establishes that the contribution threshold to the public fund will be 2.3 salaries and that the money saved for future pensions will not be managed by Colpensiones, but by a kind of board of directors made up of the ministers of Finance and Labor, the director of National Planning, and four experts selected by the Bank of the Republic. Additionally, more than three million people who do not meet the minimum contribution threshold will now be able to access a payment of 223,000 pesos per month (about 54 dollars).