The Social Security System (SSS) is expecting to incur a net income of over P100 billion this year.
This will translate to a year-on-year increase of roughly 20 percent from the P83.13 billion recorded in 2023.
In a press conference yesterday, SSS president and chief executive officer Rolando Macasaet said the projected growth in net income will be driven by several factors, such as increased member contributions, strong collection efforts, higher investment returns and prudent management of the pension fund.
“I expect it to be over P100 billion (this year),” Macasaet said in SSS’ main office in Quezon City when asked about the projected net income.
Macasaet also said the SSS targets to increase the number of new members to two million a year, from the previous one million to 1.5 million a year, to exceed the population growth of the country.
“Our target is two million this year, and I’m happy to inform you that for the first quarter, we already hit half a million new members… and may even hit 2.5 million (for the full year),” Macasaet said.
The pension fund chief also reported that the amount of unremitted members’ contributions from delinquent employers have plummeted by almost 40 percent in 2023.
Macasaet said uncollected contributions in 2022 stood at P92 billion, but SSS successfully brought it down by 39 percent to P56 billion in 2023 on the back of aggressively pursuing delinquent employers and continuously updating employer records.
He said the SSS has filed cases in court against 2,422 errant employers, majority of which have opted to settle their delinquencies either through full payment or via installment schemes, resulting in a record-high collection of P1.37 billion in 2023 from P1.15 billion in 2022.
“We issued Show Cause Orders or Notices of Violation to delinquent employers and instructed them to report to SSS within 15 days to settle their unpaid contributions and corresponding penalties or face legal consequences for violating Republic Act 11199,” Macasaet said.
Last year, SSS conducted 587 Run After Contribution Evaders Campaign operations nationwide and issued written notices to 4,923 delinquent employers.
SSS also updated its records since it discovered that many of the reported contribution collectibles were from establishments that no longer operated, resulting in overstated statements of accounts being issued by the pension fund.
Meanwhile, Macasaet said he is recommending to the Social Security Commission (SSC) to allow Filipino workers in Taiwan affected by the recent earthquake to be able to avail of the SSS’ calamity loan assistance.
“I think our calamity loan is only for calamities in the Philippines, (so this will be the) first time (overseas). But don’t worry, 99 percent the SSC will support us. I have a board meeting on Monday, I have already advised (Finance) Secretary Ralph Recto,” he said.
“I ensure that the members of the commission will be more than glad to approve that,” he added.
The SSS said there are around 10,000 regularly paying SSS members in Taiwan.
