SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — The Social Security System (SSS) collected P6.01 billion in members’ contributions in Luzon Central 2 during the first nine months of 2018, up by 10.7 percent from P5.43 billion in the same period last year.
SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel F. Dooc said almost 85 percent or P5.09 billion worth of contributions came from employee-members, followed by voluntary and self-employed members at P596.55 million and P322.14 million, respectively.
Broken down, 62 percent or P3.72 billion contributions during the nine-month period came from branch accounts while the remaining 38 percent or P2.28 billion came from large accounts.
“Contributions from voluntary members jumped by 27.4 percent to P596.55 million. However, there was a slight decrease in collection from our self-employed members. That’s why we are conducting this multi-sectoral forum to increase awareness among members of cooperatives to inform them of the benefits of SSS and encourage them to pay their monthly premiums regularly,” Dooc said.
Dooc further explained that self-employed members, especially informal sector workers, are having difficulty in remitting their contributions immediately due to time constraints considering their nature of work and earning capacity.
“Given the assumptions, we thought that tapping organized groups in Central Luzon to facilitate SSS transactions could be one of the many strategies in bringing SSS services closer to our self-employed members,” added Dooc.
The state-run pension fund is eyeing additional 30 organized groups in the area as potential servicing and collecting partners of the pension fund as it held the 3rd leg of the SSS Multi-Sectoral Forum here on November 3.
More than 60 officers and representatives from cooperatives, microfinance institutions, local government units, and religious organizations in Pampanga and other nearby provinces such as Bataan, Zambales and Bulacan attended the forum.
During the event, SSS officials discussed the value of membership and special programs for self-employed individuals, especially those in the informal sector, such as the AlkanSSSya Program and accreditation of cooperatives and other organized groups. Meanwhile, Marlene D. Sindayan, General Manager of the Novaliches Development Cooperative (NOVADECI), shared the best practices of the cooperative as SSS-accredited partner agent (PA).
Another event highlight was the signing of memorandum of agreement (MOA) between SSS and Sta. Cruz Savings and Credit Cooperative (SCSCC) as the 46th accredited PA of the SSS. Based in Obando, Bulacan, SCSCC is the first accredited PA in Central Luzon that is both a servicing and collecting PA. It has around 10,000 regular members and associates.
“SSS takes pride that more and more cooperatives and other non-government organizations are partnering with the state-run pension fund in its goal towards universal coverage. We are looking forward in forging sustainable partnerships with organized groups to provide our informal sector workers their much-needed social security,” Dooc concluded.
Under the SSS Partner Accreditation Program, qualified organized groups like cooperatives and microfinance institutions were selected to provide SSS services to their respective members. Accredited servicing PAs are authorized to receive and screen SSS forms such as personal data record of self-employed, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and Non-Working Spouse (NWS), loan application form and funeral claim application while collecting PAs are allowed to collect SSS contributions, loan amortizations and other miscellaneous payments to its members.
To date, SSS has six servicing PAs, three collecting PAs and 13 servicing and collecting PAs in the Luzon area.