Social Security System (SSS) members avail of services at the new Robinsons Galleria branch. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
THE Social Security System (SSS) aims to convince more members to be active by opening or relocating up to 10 branches to improve accessibility this year.
Emilio De Quiros, Jr., SSS president and chief executive officer (CEO), said only about 12 million members are active out of the 33.6 million registered workers.
Contributions last year reached P132.62 billion.
The target is to bring this up to 40 to 45 percent this year, he told reporters during the opening last week of a full-service branch at Robinsons Galleria Cebu.
De Quiros said they have initiated partnerships with microfinance institutions and allow municipal treasurers to collect in areas with no banks.
SSS is also promoting its AlkanSSSya Program, which offers jeepney drivers, street vendors and other members from the informal sector to save up and become active members of SSS.
De Quiros said they would add, relocate or renovate five to 10 branches this year.
More foreign offices will also be opened to reach out to overseas Filipino workers.
As of 2015, SSS had 21 foreign offices and 284 offices all over the Philippines, 165 of which are full-service branches.
The Robinsons Galleria branch is the second full-service branch in Cebu City, next to the main Cebu office along Osmeña Blvd. Other full service branches in Cebu are located in Mandaue, Lapu- Lapu, Toledo and Talisay.
There are also two service centers at Robinsons Fuente and SM City Cebu, which offer limited services like registration, verification and receiving of claims.
On the proposed P2, 000 increase in the monthly pension of senior citizen members that was vetoed by President Benigno S. C. Aquino III early this year, De Quiros said they were not against any increase, but stressed that they would have to collect a 5-percent increase in contributions to sustain their funds up to 2042.
Otherwise, he said they would incur losses of P26 billion.
“We’re not against any increase in benefits for our members. That has always been our stand. But there has to be also an equivalent funding mechanism,” said De Quiros.
Meanwhile, De Quiros said a new loan facility that SSS plans to launch next month will allow members affected by calamities to lengthen payment period at low interest rates.
Members in calamity-hit areas can also avail of advanced pension for up to three months and early renewal of loans so long as they have paid existing ones.
He said they were just waiting for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) to confirm the state of calamity declaration in Cebu City and province due to the El Niño phenomenon.