The SSS main office in Quezon City (File photo from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Contribution collections by the Social Security System (SSS) increased by over P22.19 billion in 2018, the state-run agency said over the weekend.
In a statement, Emmanuel Dooc, SSS president and chief executive officer, said that the contributions made by SSS members jumped by 13.89 percent — from P159.72 billion in 2017 to P181.92 billion in 2018.
“We are very pleased that we have ended the year 2018 on a positive notch. Contribution collections comprised more than 86 percent of our total revenue last year,” Dooc said.
Citing its unaudited financial records, the SSS said its total revenues reached P212.57 billion in 2018, a 6.02 percent increase from the P200.50 billion recorded in 2017.
Meanwhile, its total expenditures rose by 5.33 percent — from P180.23 billion in 2017 to P189.84 billion in 2018.
This can be largely attributed to the benefit payments as well as the adjustments made in the Employees’ Compensation (EC) benefits in the middle of the year.
“As you can see, benefit payments was P9.39 billion higher than last year. Increase in the number of benefit claims rose by an average of 7 percent in the last six months of the year,” Dooc said.
“The implementation of the EC benefit adjustment also contributed to the increase in benefit disbursements along with the release of the 13th-month pension of qualified pensioners and their dependents,” he added.
However, the SSS noted that operating expenses barely increased — from P9.54 billion in 2017 to P9.76 billion in 2018.
The agency, which serves as the administrator of EC claims for private workers, explained that more than P442.38 million was disbursed to 17,619 EC pensioners for the additional benefit of P1,150 from January 2017 until October 2018, including the 13th month pension for 2017 and for the additional P425 carer’s allowance per month starting May 2018 until October of the same year.
The SSS added that its total resources of P507.32 billion are P2.45 billion higher than the year-end level of P504.87 billion recorded in 2017 as of end-December 2018. /atm