Dominguez expressed hope that SSS members would see their higher monthly contributions as their savings and safety net against the future hazards of sickness, maternity, disability, unemployment, old age, death and other contingencies resulting to loss of income or financial burden for them and their beneficiaries. “Upon full implementation in 2025, the reforms under the SSA of 2018 will offset the adverse financial impact of the P1,000 pension increase granted in 2017,” Dominguez said. This could endanger the SSS’ ability to provide its members and their beneficiaries with benefits and loan privileges,” said Dominguez. This decline is a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, which affected the number of benefit disbursements from late March to May. However, benefit disbursements to SSS members and their beneficiaries started to slowly recover or increase in the following months with the easing of quarantine restrictions and continuous digitization of the SSS system.

Source: Manila Times December 23, 2020 18:00 UTC