SSS President and CEO Robert Joseph de Claro confirms their major plans which include prioritizing improved services for pensioners, reducing interest rates, and pursuing self-employed coverage for this year.
The SSS chief expressed acknowledgment of the concerns of Filipino pensioners aged 80 and above, ensuring uninterrupted receipt of pension benefits. Currently, there are 157,493 pensioners of SSS.
“We are reviewing our guidelines on the Annual Confirmation of Pensioners (ACOP) Program to simplify requirements and other verification processes for the convenience of our pensioners,” he said.
The review of the current guidelines includes analyzing the age and geographical distribution of pensioners, exploring additional means to ACOP compliance, and utilizing SSS resources like conducting home visits for verification.
Apart from improved services, SSS also implements a rate cut among their salary and calamity loan programs.
The reduced amount has not yet been disclosed, but the current charges are at an interest rate of 10 percent per annum.
The SSS achieved an annualized Return on Investment (ROI) of 5.8% to 6.6% from 2021 to 2024, maintaining strong performance despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Given the consistent, solid performance of SSS’ investment portfolio, it is now timely to revisit the interest rate of our salary and calamity loan programs,” de Claro stated.
He also added that the reduced borrowing costs would result in greater loan proceeds, and the fund can afford to lower its lending rate, thanks to its solid investment earnings.
Lastly, the SSS chief aims to improve collection compliance among self-employed professionals like accountants, doctors, and engineers.
De Claro confirmed they are meeting with the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) to discuss opportunities with this plan.
“Our goal is to make them continue paying SSS contributions while they are gainfully self-employed even if they have reached 120 contributions already,” he added.
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