The digitalization program of the Social Security System (SSS) implemented under the current administration has led to a reduction in the pension fund’s operating expenses as share of benefit payments by almost half last year versus in 2015, or the last full year of the previous administration’s term, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.
The DOF said in a statement over the weekend that based on preliminary data, SSS’ operating expenses was reduced to only P4 for every P100 of benefits paid in 2021, cutting this cost by almost half from the P7.90 that it spent in 2015 for the same activity.
The SSS said if loan disbursements made by the fund are included in the computation, it only spent P3.50 for every P100 benefits paid plus loans released in 2021.
As a share of the pension fund’s revenues, its operating expenses also went down from 5.5 percent in 2015 to 3.5 percent in 2021, said Aurora Ignacio,SSS president and chief executive officer.
Carlos Dominguez, DOF secretary and Social Security Commission chairman, ordered the SSS in 2019 to trim its operating expenses as a share of benefit payments, which was at 5.1 percent at that time, to around 3 percent to ensure that member contributions to the pension fund are efficiently spent and maximized for their benefit.
“Our digitalization initiatives which we pursued upon the instructions of the secretary way before the pandemic, played a big part in pursuing our goal of reducing our operating expenses as a share of benefit payments,” Ignacio said.
For 2022, SSS is targeting to further cut its operating expenses to P3.90 for every P100 benefits paid, Ignacio added.
SSS invested P807 million for capital outlay from 2019 to 2021 to improve its information technology capabilities and prepare for its digital transformation, she said.
She added that SSS also entered into a memorandum of agreement last year with the Bureau of the Treasury, Government Service Insurance System, Insurance Commission, Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Land Bank of the Philippines to procure a Shared Cyberdefense Solution as an additional layer of protectionagainst cyber hacking and other threats.
Last year, SSS fully transitioned to processing online the various benefits claimed by its members, which include maternity, sickness, unemployment insurance, funeral and retirement benefits.
Salary and calamity loan applications are now filed, processed and released 100-percent online.
Ignacio said the SSS also continues to provide its members with safe and convenient online access to their records and transactions via the SSS Mobile app and web-based platforms under its ExpreSSS campaign.
From 7.4 million in 2020, the downloads of the SSS Mobile app grew to 12.02 million in 2021.
Total downloads of the SSS Mobile app since its launching in 2018 have already breached the 22-million mark, Ignacio said.
Payments collected via this app using digital wallets such as PayMaya, GCash, credit and debit cards, and through BPI amounted to P1.03 billion from 373,153 transactions last year.
As of the third quarter of last year, less than 1 percent or around 13,000 of the three million SSS pensioners were still receiving their pensions via cheques, while the rest have already shifted to electronic payments, Ignacio said.
Also last year, she said SSS was able to collect from delinquent accounts a total of P23.71 billion, representing a 138-percent increase from the P9.98 billion collected in 2020.
She added that SSS launched in 2021 its mandatory provident fund dubbed the Workers’ Investment and Saving Program (WISP), which now has 3.6 million members with total contributions amounting to P13.8 billion.
The membership in WISP is automatic to those with monthly salary credit of more than P20,000. — Angela Celis
