SSS earnings up 6% to P38B

MANILA, Philippines - The Social Security System (SSS) sustained its upward trajectory in 2013 with net earnings rising six percent to P38 billion.

May Catherine Ciriaco, SSS Vice President for Management Services and Planning, said contribution collections grew 9.3 percent to hit P103 billion.

Investment and other income inched up by 1.5 percent to P34.4 billion amid a low interest rate regime and volatility in the financial market.

Ciriaco noted that the agency’s 8.7 percent return on investment (ROI) continues to outperform market benchmarks such as the four percent 10-year T-bond rate and 0.7 percent 364-day Treasury bill rate.

Total assets likewise increased six percent to P385 billion.

SSS benefit releases amounted to P91 billion, with over half of which or P49 billion were paid for retirement claims, and about one-third or P30 billion disbursed to survivors of deceased members.

Payments for maternity, which totaled P4 billion, and retirement posted the highest rates of increase among SSS benefit types last year at 12.6 and 12.5 percent, respectively.

The contribution-benefit surplus – or the positive difference between collected contributions and disbursed benefits – expanded 16 percent to P12 billion. The 2013 surplus marked a five-year high and was six times more than the P2-billion surplus in 2010.

Ciriaco said prudent management of operating and capital expenditures led to improved SSS operating efficiency despite higher transaction levels, greater number of members served and increased SSS presence locally and overseas.

Operating expenses were flat at P7.6 billion. Spending for SSS operations represented only 57 percent of the agency’s allowed charter limit even as it is able to reach out to more members.

Transaction volume rose 6.4 percent to 33.7 million last year from 31.7 million in 2012, with contribution-related transactions, accounting for half of the 2013 total. The growth in SSS transactions is in step with the 4.3 percent growth in SSS coverage to 30.7 million individual members, while the number of registered employers totaled about 912,000 by end-2013.

To provide members greater convenience and easier access to SSS services and facilities, the SSS last year opened a total of 21 local offices nationwide – namely three new branches at Panabo (Davao), Guadalupe (Makati City) and Congressional (Quezon City), as well as 18 rent-free SSS Service Offices located in 17 malls and one inside the Muntinlupa City Hall.

“To reach out to overseas Filipino workers, SSS opened two foreign representative offices for Filipino communities in Macau and Bahrain which have a high concentration of migrant workers. We also deployed more roving SSS officers to bolster our coverage activities in the Middle East, Europe and Asia and encourage OFWs to register or re-activate their SSS membership,” Ciriaco said.