Pension scheme for overseas Filipinos now mandatory
SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM ALSO ENTITLES THEM TO HOST OF OTHER BENEFITS
It is now mandatory for all overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to make monthly contributions to their social security that will entitle them to a pension fund and other benefits under a new law.
President Rodrigo Duterte recently signed into law Senate Bill 1753, or the “Social Security Act of 2018”, which widens the scope of the Social Security System (SSS), extending it to all OFWs around the world. The actual date of implementation, however, and its specific details have yet to be released through the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).
Currently, only around 500,000 OFWs are covered by SSS since contributions are voluntary. With the new law, SSS membership of OFWs could increase to 2.5 million.
Mark Roue Oliva, the SSS Representative in Dubai, said the government-run provident fund will benefit both landbased and sea-based OFWs, including those in the UAE.
“Because contributions were voluntary for OFWs in the old law, most OFWs, majority of whom are from the Middle East, forget to contribute. So once they retire, they are not qualified to get pension from SSS,” Oliva told Gulf News.
All SSS benefits enjoyed by members in the Philippines such as lifetime pension and other benefits such as salary loan, sickness, retirement, maternity, disability, death, funeral are also being received by OFWs in the UAE, he explained.