SSS contribution collections jump by P22B

STATE-RUN Social Security System (SSS) reported that its contribution collections jumped by more than P22.19 billion in 2018 mainly due to the aggressive collection efforts of the agency.

SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Dooc, in a press statement, said members’ contributions hit P181.92 billion in 2018.

The figure is higher by 13.89 percent from the P159.72 billion recorded in 2017.

“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,” he added.

Based on the unaudited financial records of the pension fund, total revenues of the SSS reached P212.57 billion last year, registering a growth of 6.02 percent from the P200.50 billion recorded in 2017.

Total expenditures of the pension fund, on the other hand, slightly rose by 5.33 percent to P189.84 billion in 2018 from the previous P180.23 billion.

When broken down, benefit payments contributed largely to the increase in total expenditures in 2018 with P180.08 billion following the adjustments in Employees’ Compensation (EC) benefits in the middle of the year.

Operating expenses, meanwhile, barely increased to P9.76 billion from the P9.54 billion recorded a year ago.

“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 seven 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 13thmonth pension of qualified pensioners and their dependents, he added./pr