SSS opens branch in Talisay, Cebu
MANILA, Philippines–State-run pension fund Social Security System (SSS) has expanded its presence in Central Visayas as the number of members in the region grew in 2014.
In a statement, SSS said it opened on Wednesday a branch at the Gaisano Grand Fiesta Mall in Talisay City, Cebu, to serve 14,442 employee-members as well as 3,000 self-employed and voluntary members in the southern part of the province.
The new branch will service members living or working not only in Talisay City but also those in the neighboring cities of Carcar and Naga as well as the municipalities of Minglanilla and San Fernando.
The SSS office in Talisay City is a “full-service” branch that will issue social security numbers and accept and process applications on benefit claims such as sickness, maternity, disability, funeral and death applications, among other services.
Helen Solito, SSS assistant vice president for Central Visayas, said membership in southern Cebu would likely rise, noting that the agriculture, manufacturing, power and services sectors have been boosting economic activity in the area.
Separately, SSS said its membership in the provinces of Bohol, Cebu, Leyte and Samar grew by 3.9 percent to 2.4 million as of the end of November in 2014.
The increase mainly came on the back of higher enrollment of self-employed as well as voluntary members, which almost doubled to 14,139 in 2014 from 8,123 in the previous year.
Most of the new self-employed members were from the cities of Ormoc, Tacloban and Tagbilaran, according to the SSS.
“Other than the self-employed, we also recorded about 72,538 new members from the employed sector,” SSS president and chief executive Emilio de Quiros said.
The rise in membership brought higher collections, jumping 14.4 percent to P7 billion during the first 11 months of 2014, SSS data showed. The employed sector contributed the bulk or P6.2 billion of the 11-month collections.
SSS said it had paid P5.6 billion in social security as well as employees’ compensation benefits to members in the four provinces, of which P5 billion went to payments for regular pensions covering death, disability and retirement.
“Members in Central Visayas also received P11.2 million in lump sum and initial payments for retirement, P115.9 million for death, P241.4 million in funeral grants, P19.8 million for disability, P120.5 million for maternity, and P26.6 million for sickness,” De Quiros added.
To date, SSS has a total of 11 branches on top of six service offices in the four Visayan provinces.
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