IN THIS time of employment uncertainties, minimum-wage workers and retired pensioners who worked in the private sector are both looking up to the government, through the Social Security System (SSS), for much-needed assistance.
For workers, it is only now that wage hikes are being paid, and these are still being processed in some regions outside of Metro Manila. They have suffered much during the two-year COVID-19 pandemic and many lost their jobs and consequently their simple houses because they did not have the money to pay for amortization.
The retired private-sector employees who receive pensions from the SSS every month are mostly in the same dire straits. They are senior citizens but are still trying to eke out a living because their measly insurance pensions cannot cover even the basic everyday household and personal expenses.
‘…Regino should dispense with the bafflegab and explain to the senators if there is really such a huge loss, and what should be done about it. The SSS owes it to its members and contributors and the general public, to clear up this matter.’
Among the benefits the SSS gives to its members are for sickness, maternity, disability, retirement, death, funeral and salary loan. Active workers contribute to the fund, income of which pays for the pensions of elderly members and should take care of their retirement benefits when the time for them to retire comes. The agency also ensures that its assets are generating revenues and invests these in land, buildings, securities such as shares of stocks and bonds both here and abroad. These functions are all in the Social Security Act of 2018.
As of April 2021, 40.49 million Filipinos are enrolled with SSS–about 76% or 30.77 million are employed members, while 5.03 million are voluntary paying members, 3.35 million are self-employed members, and 1.34 million are Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) based on the latest data posted on the agency’s website. No doubt the SSS has an increasing membership base.
Sen. Francis N. Tolentino voiced out his concern last week about the reported huge net loss of the state-run insurance firm amounting to P843.9 billion as shown in its 2021 unaudited financial statements. Consequently, he is pushing for a congressional probe on the reported massive net losses in the finances of the SSS.
Tolentino has filed Senate Resolution No. 1006, urging the Senate Committee on Government Corporations and Public Enterprises to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation in connection with the reported millions of losses in the SSS’s unaudited financial statements “to ensure its financial viability and capacity to carry out its fiduciary responsibilities to the general public.” The senator’s objective, he said, is to provide further security to the agency’s long-term financial standing.
Meanwhile, SSS President and CEO Michael Regino earlier explained that the multi-billion net loss shown in 2021 unaudited financial statements is due to a change in accounting standards brought by the Philippine Financial Reporting Standards (PFRS) 4, adding that the increase in its net loss from the previous year is due to the recognition of the Margin for Adverse Deviation (MfAD) in policy reserves.
Perhaps Regino should dispense with the bafflegab and explain to the senators if there is really such a huge loss, and what should be done about it. The SSS owes it to its members and contributors and the general public, to clear up this matter.
