SSS net income down 12.5% to P3.5 billion in Q1

The net income of state-run pension fund Social Security System further fell 12.5 percent year-on-year to P3.5 billion in the first quarter as expenditures continued to increase due to the pension hike while investment income declined following a drop in the stock market.

The decline in net income from P4 billion in the first quarter of last year was nonetheless slower compared to the 67-percent slide a year ago.

The latest SSS data showed that total revenues from January to March inched up 1.9 percent to P49.72 billion from P48.78 billion in the same three-month period last year, mainly as the pension fund collected more from members.

End-March contributions rose 7.6 percent to P42.57 billion from a year ago’s P39.55 billion.

In a statement Friday, SSS president and chief executive Emmanuel F. Dooc attributed the increase in collections to “aggressive collection drives such as posting of show cause orders in non-compliant establishments, serving of warrants of arrest together with the Philippine National Police, and the implementation of the real-time posting of contributions (RTPC) as a new form of collection system.”

However, first-quarter investment and other income dropped 22.5 percent to P7.16 billion from P9.23 billion last year.

“The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) opened at 8,584 in the beginning of the first quarter and closed at 8,039 by end-March. This represented a 7.04-percent drop or 604 points, which affected not only the SSS but also other investors. Also, the SSS’s dividend income from invested companies for the period of January to March declined by 9.61 percent to P1.27 billion compared to the P1.41 billion in the same period last year,” Dooc noted.

On the other hand, total expenditures rose by a faster 3.2 percent to P46.22 billion as of March from last year’s P44.78 billion.

Benefit payments, which include payouts to pensioners, death benefits, maternity benefits, disability benefits, funeral grants and sickness benefits, climbed 3.9 percent to P44.24 billion from P42.6 billion a year ago.

Payments for retirees’ pension comprised the bulk of benefits disbursed in the first three months, amounting P25.46 billion, SSS data showed. —BEN O. DE VERA