More informal workers join SSS microsavings program

MANILA, Philippines - The Social Security System’s (SSS) innovative microsavings program has attracted more than 74,000 members from 748 informal workers groups as of the end of May.

A total of 180 informal sector groups (ISGs), representing over 17,000 members,  joined the program within the first five months of the year with the transport industry accouting for about half of the AlkanSSSya enrollees.

Among the participants in the transport sector are operators and drivers of tricycles, jeepneys, trisikad, vans, shuttle buses and habal habal; motorboat and pumpboat operators; airport service providers; and bus dispatchers.

Luzon-based groups accounted for 337 out of the 748 covered ISGs – nearly half of the nationwide total – while 179 ISGs were from the National Capital Region, 116 ISGs were from Visayas, and 116 ISGs were from Mindanao.

“The growth in participating ISGs reflects the AlkanSSSya’s appeal to the needs of informal sector workers such as affordability and convenience, especially since many among them have busy work schedules and tight budgets,” said Amalia Tolentino, SSS AlkanSSSya program director.

Informal sector workers who save at least P11 per day – about the price of cellphone load or softdrink – can complete the minimum P330 monthly AlkanSSSya contribution based on a declared monthly income or “salary credit” of P3,000, Tolentino said.

Apart from transport workers’ groups, other covered ISGs include associations for ambulant and market vendors, farmers and fisherfolk, jail inmates, garbage pickers, pottery makers, lay ministers, beach cottage owners, and members of cooperatives and community-based organizations, among others.

Workers’ savings are placed in a communal AlkanSSSya unit that houses dozens of secure box-type “piggy banks” owned by the ISG members.

The SSS has expanded its AlkanSSSya program to include job order (JO) and contractual workers in state-run institutions who are excluded from the mandatory coverage of the Government Service Insurance System.