The Social Security System (SSS) branch offices under the Luzon North 1 Division surpassed their annual membership coverage target by 78 percent as of October 2024.
Branches under the division are Agoo, Baguio, Bangued, Bontoc, Candon, La Trinidad, La Union (San Fernando City), Laoag and Vigan.
In a press briefing, SSS Vice President for Luzon North 1 Division Ceasar P. Saludo said that from January to October 2024, the number of SSS new members in Luzon North 1 soared by 78 percent to 103,982, exceeding the Division’s 2024 target of 58,400 new members.
“With the additional new members this year, the total cumulative registered SSS members in our division as of end of October surged to over 900,000. With two months left in the year, our membership coverage performance has already outdone our last year’s performance with a total cumulative covered members of more than 734,000 as of December 2023,” Saludo said.
Saludo attributed the Division’s impressive membership growth to the intensified membership coverage drives and enhanced service delivery campaigns, enticing more Filipinos to become SSS members.
“SSS believes that every working Filipino deserves social security protection which serve as our inspiration to reach out to our kababayans and encourage them to save for their retirement through the SSS. We affirmed our commitment to cover more new members until the end of this year,” Saludo added.
According to Saludo, the SSS Division forged partnerships with 56 regional government offices, local government units (LGUs) and state universities and colleges (SUCs) under the KaSSSangga Collect Program, successfully covering 2,885 job order (JO) and contract of service (COS) workers as SSS self-employed members.
He added that over 97 localized SSS e-centers were established in various barangays and establishments while the SSS eWheels visited 942 locations in Cordillera and Ilocos region, providing services to more than 49,000 individuals in last-mile communities.
Active SSS members can receive various social security benefits in times of life contingencies such as sickness, maternity, disability, unemployment, retirement, death and funeral. They may also avail themselves of loan privileges like salary and calamity. Aside from the regular SSS benefits, members have the option to boost their retirement benefit through the mandatory and retirement savings schemes under the MySSS Pension Booster.
“For soon-to-be members, the first step is to generate a Social Security number, which can be done online through SSS website. We are making SSS transactions easy and hassle-free at the comfort of their homes through the My.SSS Portal. For further assistance, they can be assisted in our E-Centers located in SSS branches, as well as in select barangays and municipal halls,” Saludo concluded.
Earlier, SSS reported that from January to July 2024, new membership reached 2.4 million, a 165 percent increase from the 923,000 new members recorded in the same period last year.