The Social Security System (SSS) said it has collected P2.18 billion worth of contributions from nearly 216,000 job order (JO) and contractual workers who were covered as members of the pension fund under its KaltaSSS-Collect program, as of end-June this year.
“Many government institutions and other professional organizations now recognize the importance of providing adequate safety nets to their JOs and contractual workers through SSS membership,” Aurora Ignacio, SSS president and chief executive officer, said in a statement released over the weekend.
“These workers are not entitled to Government Service Insurance System benefits that regular employees usually enjoyed. Given the lack of security of tenure, these workers need something to rely on in times of contingencies such as sickness, maternity, disability, job loss, old age, and death. SSS as their savings will be there to help them whenever they needed it,” Ignacio added.
Under the KaltaSSS-Collect Program, participating agencies and groups will serve as collecting partners of the pension fund upon signing of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) with SSS.
JOs and contractual workers shall be registered as self-employed members while their respective agencies shall be responsible for remitting their monthly contributions through salary deduction scheme.