SSS seeks GSIS help to cover members’ risks

The Social Security System (SSS) is looking at tapping the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to insure some of the pension fund’s liabilities amid growing expenditures arising from higher pension payments.

SSS president and CEO Emmanuel F. Dooc told the Inquirer he had consulted with Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, whom he said was open to the proposal to have the GSIS cover some of the private pension fund’s risks and liabilities.

The Inquirer reported last week that the SSS’s first-quarter net profit dropped by 67 percent year-on-year to $4.008 billion partly due to the P1,000 increase in monthly pension approved by President Duterte in January.

But while the GSIS is an insurance entity, it is limited by its charter to cover government assets and employees only, hence a change in its charter through legislation would be needed to accommodate SSS, Dooc said.

“Right now, we pay out benefits. We can engage outside insurers. In the case of the GSIS, we are exploring if they can offer us a similar service giving protection to our members. Under that arrangement, we will just be buying the premiums. But I still don’t know if that is viable [to the GSIS],” Dooc said.

“I am consulting with the social security committee of the Actuarial Society of the Philippines, among others, to ensure the actuarial soundness and viability of this project. We will not plunge into it unless we are assured that our members will be adequately protected and the pricing is beneficial to the fund,” Dooc added in a text message over the weekend. —BEN O. DE VERA