SSS mulls provident fund

MANILA, Philippines - The Social Security System (SSS) plans to open this year a savings window for members so they can look forward to more benefits on top of their retirement pension. SSS president and chief executive officer Emilio de Quiros Jr. said the voluntary provident fund program offers members guaranteed retirement earnings that are higher than savings deposit rates. He added that the government pension fund was finalizing the infrastructure and system support needed to implement the program, that will be open to employers and members who are less than 55 years old, including self-employed (SE) workers, voluntary members (VM) and overseas Filipino workers (OFW). SE-VMs and OFWs must be paying at maximum amount of contributions under the regular SSS program – now pegged at P1,560 – for at least six months immediately prior to the month of enrollment. For employees, payments in the provident fund would be on top of their regular SSS contributions. Contributions to the provident fund can be made anytime. A member can put in up to P100,000 per year, with a minimum contribution of P1,000 per payment which must be in multiples of P100. It is intended for retirement and total disability (65 percent), medical (25 percent) and general purpose (10 percent) and funds withdrawn within the five-year retention period from the medical and general purpose portion will be subjected to penalties and charges.