SSS disburses P62 B pension benefits in 5 months

MANILA, Philippines — State-run Social Security System (SSS) said its pension benefit releases in the first five months of the year rose to P62.19 billion year-on-year amid an increase in the number of pensioners.

According to SSS president and chief executive officer Aurora Ignacio, the SSS’ pension disbursements from January to May 2019 climbed 8.44 percent to P62.19 billion from P57.35 billion in the same period last year.

She said this accounted for 78.6 percent of the state fund’s total benefit disbursements during the five-month period amounting to P79.12 billion.

Ignacio said the growth in the amount disbursed came amid the rise in the number of SSS pensioners from 2.4 million in May last year to 2.5 million in May 2019.

“We are happy to see our pensioners enjoy their monthly pensions after many years of saving with SSS.  They are finally reaping the benefits of the years of their hard work when they were still part of the labor force,” Ignacio said in a statement.

The SSS provides retirement, death, and disability pensions.

As of May 2019, the SSS has more than 1.5 million retiree-pensioners, over 940,000 survivorship-pensioners, and 85,000 pensioners receiving disability benefits.

 “We cannot overemphasize the importance of consistently paying monthly contributions to SSS so that in contingencies where there is loss of income, the SSS can provide them with assistance in the form of pension, cash allowances or loans. If they also wish to have higher pensions, they must also save more with SSS,” Ignacio said.

According to Ignacio, the highest pension currently being paid by SSS for a retiree pensioner is P18,945, while minimum pension is P2,000. These include the P1,000 additional benefit implemented in 2017.

Meanwhile, the SSS chief said the state fund has also released P1.16 billion in loans to 48,505 pensioners through the Pension Loan Program from it’s launch in September 2018 to July 9, 2019.

The program is designed to provide financial assistance to retiree pensioners through a low-interest rate loan option.

“We are seeing an increase in the number of SSS pensioners relying now on our pension loan program for their short-term and emergency needs instead of going to loan sharks,” Ignacio said.

Under the PLP, qualified members can apply for a loan of up to six times their respective basic monthly pension, as long as it does not exceed the maximum loan limit of P32,000.

The loan carries an interest rate of 10 percent per annum, computed on a diminishing principal balance, which will become part of the monthly amortization.

“We encourage our qualified members to avail of the PLP. We have eased its qualifying guidelines to cover more pensioners, Ignacio said. “Also, we would like to warn PLP applicants against fixers. Please do not transact with them.”