SSS Says Payments to Members and Pensioners Almost Doubled in Duterte Term

The Social Security System (SSS) has stated that the number of released benefits to pensioners and members during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s term reached ₱1.1 trillion.

SSS President Michael Regino has mentioned that from 2016 – 2021, the number of payments for benefits had almost doubled from ₱549.6 billion in 2010 to 2015.

According to Regino, the increased benefit payments during Duterte’s administration were due in part to the “reforms implemented over the last few years, such as those provided under Republic Act (RA) Nos. 11199 (Social Security Act of 2018) and 11210 (Expanded Maternity Leave Law), and the granting of the additional P1,000 benefit for pensioners starting 2017.”

During Duterte’s campaign period, he promised to increase pensioners’ monthly benefits. The first tranche was granted back in 2017 while the second tranche was sidetracked by the pandemic. The second tranche was a planned increase in pension benefits by ₱2,000.

The previous Duterte administration also wanted a charter amendment to permit the Social Security Commission (SSC) to increase the contribution rates since the additional pension benefits payment reduced the SSS fund life by 10 years.

With this, in 2019 contribution rates increased to 12%. A second increase was implemented last 2021 to 13%. For this year, the increase will be 14% than in 2025 to 15%.

The fund life of SSS has been prolonged with the RA 11199 and is estimated to last until the year 2054.

Regino stated that “The reforms under the Social Security Act of 2018 include the expansion of the SSS’s mandatory coverage to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), increasing the maximum monthly salary credit for the computation of benefits, and granting of the unemployment benefit, among others,”

“The Expanded Maternity Leave Law, on the other hand, extended the compensable days from 60 (normal delivery) or 78 (cesarean delivery) days for each of the first four deliveries to 105 days, regardless of frequency, with an additional 15 days for solo mothers for every delivery,”  he adds.

Source: Inquirer