SSS income declines to P3.5 B in Q1

Higher benefit payouts pushed the Social Security System’s (SSS) first quarter net income to decline to P3.5 billion from P4 billion in the same period last year despite better collections, data from the agency showed.

According to data provided by the SSS, the state fund’s total revenue as of end-March rose slightly to P49.72 billion from P48.8 billion last year due to higher contribution collection from its 15.4 million members, which reached P42.57 billion.

SSS president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Dooc said this was a result of the aggressive collection drive of the agency, including the posting of show cause orders in non-compliant establishments, serving of warrants of arrests against delinquent employers and the implementation of the Real-Time Posting of Contributions (RTPC) as a new collection system.

“There was a large volume of paying members in the first quarter, majority of them are voluntary members. This, combined with the implementation of the RTPC since January 2018, caused the immediate posting of collections in our system,” Dooc said.

On the other hand, the SSS said its investment and other income declined 22.5 percent to P7.16 billion in the first quarter from P9.23 billion last year.

Dooc attributed this to several factors, such as the unfavorable mark-to-market valuation and timing of receipt of dividend income.

Meanwhile, end-March expenditures reached P46.22 billion, higher than the P44.8 billion recorded in the same period in 2017. The SSS said this was brought about by the 3.85 percent increase in benefit payouts, which amounted to P44.24 billion during the period.

The bulk or P25.46 billion of this was in the form of retirement benefits, while P13.70 billion were disbursed as death benefits. Maternity benefits reached P1.77 billion; disability benefit, P1.65 billion; funeral grant, P1 billion; and sickness benefit amounted to P649 million.

Operating expenses of the pension fund slipped to P1.98 billion from the P2.18 billion in the previous year following the 41.3 percent drop in maintenance costs and other operating expenses.

Despite the decrease in net income, Dooc assured SSS members and pensioners the pension fund is financially stable and well-managed.

He said SSS assets in January to March rose to P509.83 billion due to the continuous growth in investment level and cash equivalents despite the decrease in other receivables.