BAGUIO CITY – The local branch of the Social Security System (SSS) registered more than fourteen thousand employers within its area of jurisdiction as of September this year.
However, SSS assistant branch manager Dominador Malatag claimed of the number of registered employers that have an equivalent of over 59,000 workers, more than 6,000 employers have been classified to be regularly contributing employers while nearly 8,000 employers are either intermittently or non-paying members.
On the other hand, the SSS official claimed there are also over 31,000 registered self-employed and voluntary members with 50 percent regularly paying members based on updated payment records while the remaining 50 percent are classified as either intermittently paying or non-paying members.
Malatag pointed out the SSS remains aggressive in notifying intermittent and non-paying employers and members to continue paying their contributions to the local branch office because it will be the members that will reap the increased benefits of the SSS once they need the said benefits through whatever mode, loans, pensions, maternity and disability as well as sickness benefits among other social benefits granted by the Commission for its members.
The SSS deputy branch officer noted that employers should be consistent in the payment of the contributions of their employees to the said social security fund because it will contribute in increasing the social security coverage of workers who are mostly in the private sector and other self-employed individuals wanting to enjoy their retirement with better benefits in the future.
According to him, the SSS has consistent notified delinquent employers of their obligation to pay the contributions of their employees and a good number of them positively responded to the said notices that resulted to the increasing number of regularly paying employers amidst the consistent increase in the number of delinquent employers.
He said that the local SSS branch remains open to all members and prospective members who want to inquire regarding their payments and the available services they can avail with the expected enactment into law of the new Social Security Act of 2018 as the same was already ratified by the bicameral conference committee of both chambers of Congress during their previous hearing over a week ago.
SSS is one of the social security arm of the government that provides the needed benefits for its growing number of members in the different parts of the country.
Malatag opined that there might be valid reasons why some employers do not regularly pay their obligations, like the occurrence of various natural and man-made disasters that visited the country this year, especially recent Tropical Cyclone Ompong, and that is why the SSS local branch continues to get in touch with them to assess the situation for any assistance that could be extended to them.
By Dexter A. See
