New SSS deal to benefit Pinoys in Japan

THE Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that the Philippines and Japan have officially exchanged diplomatic notes notifying each other on the completion of their respective constitutional requirements for the entry into force of the “Agreement between the Republic of the Philippines and Japan on Social Security.”

The DFA said that the Agreement will enter into force on 01 August 2018.

According to the DFA, the Social Security Agreement entitles both Filipino and Japanese nationals to coverage of social security benefits in either country. Employees sent from Japan to the Philippines as well as those sent from the Philippines to Japan are currently subject to compulsory coverage under the social security systems of both countries.

The Agreement will also enable the establishment of eligibility to receive pension in each country by totalizing the periods of social security coverage in both countries. Upon the entry into force of this Agreement, those employees temporarily dispatched for a period of five years or less to the other country will, in principle, be covered only by the pension system of the country from which employees are dispatched.

The Agreement is also expected to reduce the burden imposed on companies and employees, thereby facilitating further people-to-people and economic exchanges between the Philippines and Japan.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano, as then Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, sponsored the Senate Resolution concurring with the ratification of the Agreement by President Rodrigo Duterte in February 2017. The National Diet (Legislature) of Japan ratified the said agreement in April 2016.

According to figures from the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo, more than 250,000 Filipinos live or work in Japan. Out of this number, more than 200,000 are permanent migrants, while around 50,000 are temporary migrants.

Apart from Japan, the Philippines has bilateral agreements on social security with Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.