PERA, a retirement savings fund run by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), posted a 24 percent increase in member contributions to P491.4 million in 2024 from P396.3 million in 2023.
The BSP also reported, however, PERA, or Personal Equity and Retirement Account, has shown a slow buildup in the number of contributors nine years after it was launched in 2016.
PERA membership reached only 5,912 as of the end of 2024, or 6.42 percent higher than the 5,555 contributors on record for the preceding year.
The BSP called on Filipinos aged 18 and above who are employed or self-employed, or overseas workers, to make use of PERA and its benefits such as tax-free earnings and capital gains, as well as tax credits.
“This is a powerful tool for ensuring financial security upon retirement and promoting a comfortable life during sunset years,” BSP Senior Director Jose Recon Tano of the Financial Supervision Department said.
Of the total number of contributors last year, 4,211 were employed individuals, 789 were OFWs and 912 were self-employed, BSP data showed.
Employed individuals contributed P341.75 million, OFWs contributed P82.25 million, and the self-employed added P67.39 million to the fund, the BSP said.
Referring to PERA’s digital launch in September 2020, Recon Tano said: “As an online marketplace, digital PERA facilitates greater convenience and efficiency by enabling Filipinos to open a PERA account, choose among different accredited PERA products, and settle PERA transactions electronically, using mobile or other digital devices.”
In 2023, BSP started accepting contributions from Filipinos aged 18 and above, employed locally or self-employed.
The maximum annual investment per person increased to P200,000 from P100,000.
OFWs, meanwhile, are allowed to invest up to P400,000 each per year.
The BSP said each individual may have a maximum of five PERA accounts.
PERA benefits include the exemption of earnings from taxes on final withholding, capital gains and regular income.
Its contributors are also entitled to a 5 percent tax credit on contributions for the year that can be used to pay off national income tax liabilities.
PERA withdrawals are not subject to taxes, Recon Tano said.
When a contributor reaches 55 years old and had invested at least five years in the fund, he or she may redeem the PERA investment tax-free, he said.
Created under Republic Act 9505, PERA supplements state-based pension plans from the Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System, as well as employer-sponsored retirement plans.
Based on the 2020 Census of Population and Housing (2020 CPH), there were 9.2 million Filipinos aged 60 and older, which represented 8.5 percent of the country’s population.
This was double the number of senior citizens in 2000, when they made up 5.9 percent of the population.
Of this group, only 20 percent are covered by either SSS or GSIS, leaving 80 percent of the senior citizens in the country with no mandatory pension at all, the BSP said.
