WHILE the excitement from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting hosted by the Philippine government last week has simmered down, the issues and challenges linked with this year’s Apec theme—“Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World”—remain as major concerns for the 21 member-economies under the regional organization.
The Apec had identified inclusive growth as the “overarching objective” of the 2015 meeting, and the Social Security System (SSS) is proud of its continuing contributions and significant role in the country’s drive toward this goal. Under the present SSS administration, several initiatives targeting the highly vulnerable and hard-to-reach workers from the informal sector were launched by the SSS.
Informal sector workers (ISWs) are deemed vulnerable for they often lack readily accessible and established sources of financial support during times of contingencies. In contrast, their counterparts in the formal sector are normally entitled to various employee benefits as part of their compensation package.
ISWs are also harder for the SSS to reach. A significant share of this population is based in far-flung places and locations with inadequate infrastructure and banking facilities, such as farmers, fishermen and cottage industry workers in rural areas. Often self-employed, ISWs have no employer that would facilitate their SSS registration and regular remittance of monthly contributions for them. If unaddressed, these factors only increase the likelihood of these workers’ exclusion from the mantle of protection offered by the SSS.
Mindful of these barriers, the SSS created programs such as the AlkanSSSya, which provides a system for ISWs to save small amounts from their income on a daily basis in a secure coin bank. The storage facility for their SSS savings can be in the form of a metal box or even recycled plastic bottles, as in the case of Payatas garbage pickers covered by the program. Another key feature of the AlkanSSSya Program is the SSS coverage of these workers through their respective informal sector groups, which assume the responsibility of facilitating their members’ SSS registration and regular contribution payments.
Apart from the AlkanSSSya Program, another SSS initiative for promoting inclusive growth is the accreditation of cooperatives and microfinance institutions (MFIs) as SSS collecting and servicing partner agents. By partnering with cooperatives and MFIs, the SSS can tap their extensive networks and in effect, help the hard-to-reach workers served by these organizations to gain access to SSS benefits and services.
The SSS also implemented the Social Security Subsidy Program for the subsidized SSS contributions of ISWs, as well as emergency workers in typhoon-hit areas; MuniSSSipyo Collect Program that offers workers the option to remit their SSS payments at their local municipal office; and the SSS coverage program for job order and contractual workers in state-run offices who are excluded from the mandatory coverage of the Government Service Insurance System.
Even the International Social Security Association (ISSA), a global organization that counts over 330 institutions from more than 160 countries under its membership, has recognized the value that these SSS initiatives bring in promoting inclusive growth in the country. For its efforts, the SSS received a certificate of merit with special mention for its “Moving Towards Inclusive Growth” programs during the ISSA Good Practice Awards for Asia and the Pacific held in Muscat, Oman earlier this month.
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For more information about the Social Security System (SSS) and its programs, call our 24-hour call center at (632) 920-6446 to 55, Monday to Friday, or send an e-mail to member_relations@sss.gov.ph.
Susie G. Bugante is the vice president for public affairs and special events of the SSS. Send comments about this column to susiebugante.bmirror@gmail.com.