SSS end-September benefit releases up 10%

THE AMOUNT of benefits released by state-run pension fund Social Security System (SSS) at the end of the first nine months rose by a tenth to P83.7 billion.

In a statement, the SSS yesterday said end-September benefit releases grew by 10 percent from P76.2 billion a year ago as the number of members who applied to avail themselves of their benefits rose by 8 percent year-on-year to 2.7 million during the nine-month period.

According to Agnes E. San Jose, SSS vice president for benefits administration, 99 percent of the benefits disbursed as of September were distributed under the Social Security (SS) program, the standard benefit package. End-September SS benefit payments likewise rose by a tenth to P82.8 billion from P75.4 billion last year.

The SS program offers benefits for death, disability, funeral, maternity, retirement and sickness.

SS retirement claims accounted for more than half of the end-September disbursements at P46.7 billion, up 13 percent from P41.4 billion a year ago.

Under the SS program, also disbursed were P25.4 billion for death, P3.1 billion for disability, P2.2 billion for funeral, P3.9 billion for maternity and P1.6 billion for sickness benefits.

As for the SSS Employees’ Compensation (EC) program, about 40,800 members got benefits of about P818 million as of September, up 7 percent from P763.8 million last year.

Through the EC program, members receive additional financial support for work-related sickness, disability or death.

The biggest share of EC benefits paid during the first nine months was for death claims, which accounted for more than three-fourths of the total.