SSS members get 5% pension hike

MANILA, Philippines - The Social Security System (SSS) yesterday announced a five percent across-the-board pension increase for its 1.9 million retired members effective this month. 

To provide time for the implementation of necessary adjustments, the increase would be paid out starting August, including the additional amounts for June and July, according to Agnes San Jose, SSS vice president for Benefits Administration. 

Qualified to receive bigger benefits are all active pensioners for retirement, death and disability as of May 31. 

With the increase, a person who receives a monthly pension of P3,000 for instance, will get an additional P150 for a total of P3,150. 

The minimum retirement pension varies depending on the person’s contribution period and monthly salary credit on which their contributions are based. The longer the contribution period and the bigger the contribution made when the person retired, the higher the pension.   

Under the SSS charter, the minimum guaranteed pension is P1,200 if the credited years of service are more than 10 years but fewer than 20 years or P2,400 if the credited years of service are at least 20 years. Currently, the maximum monthly salary credit is P16,000. 

The SSS, however, said that Employees Compensation (EC) pensions, which are granted on top of regular SSS pensions for members with work-related contingencies, are excluded from the five-percent increase since they were already granted a 10-percent hike in funeral, disability and death benefits.  President Aquino earlier issued Executive Order 167, doubling the workers’ funeral benefits to P20,000 as provided by the Employees Compensation Commission.  

The benefits would be given provided that the stability of the insurance funds is not affected and there is no corresponding increase in the EC contribution from the employers. 

The expansion of the agency’s membership base and rationalization of financial activities boosted the SSS’s collections by 9.4 percent to P103 billion from P94 billion.

This allowed the agency to give out more benefits to members last year, from P84 billion to P91.4 billion.   “The SSS will continue to pursue more reforms to improve its long-term financial health as well as enhance its benefit levels,” San Jose said in statement.