SSS benefit payments hit P959-M in Central Visayas

CEBU CITY – The Social Security System (SSS) payments for benefit claims in the Central Visayas region totaled P959.99 million from January to September, which was seven percent more compared with the same period last year, a top official said.

 

SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Romulo Neri said payments for retirement and maternity claims, which made up 53 percent of total disbursements, posted double-digit increases during the nine-month period.

 

"Retirement benefits, which made up 29 percent of the total, increased by 12 percent to P280.82 million from P250.69 million for the first nine months last year. Maternity claims rose by 10 percent, amounting to P230.40 million," he said.

 

Neri and other senior SSS officials were in Cebu City for the inauguration of the pension fund's new three-story building along Osmena Boulevard on November 17. SSS personnel would move in on December 8, in time for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

 

The glass and aluminum-clod building, which lies at the former site of the SSS Cebu Regional Office, provides better facilities for more than two million SSS members and over 85,000 employers in the Central Visayas region.

 

Neri said disbursements for disability claims totaled P34.26 million and sickness benefits reached P96.78 million, while death benefits and funeral grants totaled P317.73 million.

 

SSS provides benefits for sickness, disability, maternity, retirement and death under the regular Social Security program and the Employees' Compensation program, which grants additional benefits for work-related contingencies.

 

SSS Cebu City branch exceeds target, collects P1.64B

 

CEBU CITY – Contribution collections of the Social Security System's (SSS) Cebu City branch totaled P1.64 billion from January to September 2009, surpassing its nine-month target by more than P21 million, a top official said.

 

SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Romulo Neri said the amount was P81.21 million or 5 percent more than the branch's P1.56 billion collection during the same period last year.

 

"The increase in collections at the SSS Cebu City branch made up nearly half of the P3.56 billion contribution payments from Central Visayas for the first three quarters of the year," he said.

 

Neri and other top SSS officials attended the inauguration of the new SSS building along Osmena Boulevard on November 17. SSS Cebu City is among the pension fund's 15 branches under the SSS Central Visayas Cluster.

 

The new building houses the SSS Cebu City branch and its Central Visayas Cluster Office, which supervises the agency's operations in the provinces of Cebu, Samar, Bohol and Leyte.

 

"We expect collections not only in Cebu City, but also for the entire Central Visayas region, to increase in the coming years, especially now that we are inaugurating a bigger SSS building in Cebu," Neri said. "Providing members better SSS facilities encourages them to avail of our services and to remit contributions regularly."

 

SSS Cebu City, which is one of the eight SSS branches in Central Visayas that accept over-the-counter payments, collected a total of P1.14 billion through its branch tellers from January to September 2009.