The Social Security System (SSS) urged banks yet again to come and serve the people of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), as well, where less than 2 percent of all bank branches on the island actually operate in the conflict-ridden region.
SSS Chairman Amado D. Valdez particularly noted that of the 1,486 bank branches operating in Mindanao, only 19 made their presence felt in the Bangsamoro region.
According to Valdez, there is precious little of either economic development or economic generation of any sort in the region and this explains in part why resentment and volatile peace and order prevail in an area where SSS holds 46 offices.
“Only when there is an increase in economic activity, infrastructure development, employment generation, and along with it, peace and order, will there be peace in place,” Valdez said.
He argued peace would eventually prosper in the conflict area of Mindanao if the residents were engaged in economic activities that put food on the table and provide them a decent shelter, employment, education and health facilities.
He acknowledged that the challenges faced by the state-run pension fund in covering employed and voluntary members in the Bangsamoro region is the unstable peace and order in the area and the lack of banking facilities that hamper collection and disbursement activities of SSS via the banks.
“The unstable peace-and-order situation in the region is the biggest challenge faced by SSS in ensuring the coverage of employers and workers there. It is difficult to convince people of the need for social-security protection when their physical safety is threatened on a daily basis, not to mention their job security and regular sources of income,” he said.
“Let us give economic generation and economic development priority in the region, then peace order will follow,” Valdez said.
The SSS Mindanao Operations Group operates four divisions involving 46 offices in the area.
Premium collection from the region totaled P11.53 billion as at end-2016, representing only 8 percent of the total collection nationwide.
In terms of coverage, employers in Mindanao aggregate 109,000, or only 12 percent nationwide, while individual SSS members number of Mindanao some 4.9 million or 14 percent of total individual SSS members.
“In the provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, we have 1,358 covered employers, over 15,000 covered employed workers and 20,856 self-employed and voluntary members. Collection in the three provinces totaled P68.25 million for 2016,” Valdez said.
According to him, the SSS will continue to operate in the region but will focus more on establishing linkages and opening service offices. The use of so-called e-money under the G-Cash brand of Globe Telecom for premium contribution and loan payments will be promoted with the use of mobile phones.
SSS should soon open a service office in Lamitan City, Basilan, even as the state-owned pension fund looks to upgrade its Tawi-Tawi service office into a full-service branch.
In a related event, the government should soon roll out a P1.76-billion agri-business venture and investment program funded by a ¥4.93-billion loan package from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) for ARMM farmers and entrepreneurs.
This optimism was expressed by Finance Secretary Carlo G. Dominguez III, who said the Department of Finance and the Land Bank of the Philippines, where he is chairman, are close to securing all the requirements needed to implement a memorandum of agreement establishing a lending window for ARMM borrowers.
Called Harnessing Agribusiness Opportunities through Robust and Vibrant Entrepreneurship Supportive of Peaceful Transformation or Harvest, the Jica-funded program has a term of 25 years inclusive of a seven-year grace costing 1.4 percent a year.
Loans funded under the Harvest project will be made available to large agribusiness enterprises, farmers’ organizations or cooperatives, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), as well as “corporatives” or corporation-managed farms supported by the LandBank in the ARMM and other conflict-affected areas.
LandBank will pursue the Harvest program from 2017 to 2022 via a lending window for agribusiness ventures and other related investments in the ARMM and other conflict-affected areas in Mindanao.
Jica has thrown in a grant worth ¥1.85 billion, or $16 million, to help the government combat the illegal-drugs menace across the archipelago.