SSS' best

This year's commemoration of the Social Security System charter is a great harvest for the SSS, Western Visayas. They garnered the top three of the SSS's Best Employees for the year.

For the Western Visayas Division Level, Lovely Rose D. Macahilo, processor in the Aklan Branch was adjudged the Best Customer Service Employee while Florence G. Esparagoza, the OIC, CEO of Tellering Section of the Bago Branch won as the Best Supervisor.

Desiree Joan A. Presbitero, the Senior Executive Assistant in the Western Visayas Division based here in Bacolod, was chosen as the Best Support Services Employee. Desiree happens to be the better half of the former Valladolid Mayor Ricardo “Cadoy” Presbitero.

On a higher plane, the best in the Visayas-Mindanao Group Level and Branch Operation Sector Level, Bacolod again got the best shot with Desiree moving up the scale as the Best Support Services Employee.

Congratulations to SSS' best employees and to AVP Manolito C. Tagalog of the Western Visayas Division for his leadership and management that made these top employees.

Our readers, especially the pensioners of SSS had always waited for September 1, the actual date of the SSS anniversary but this year, the agency moved the celebration with a Thanksgiving Mass on the 3 rd , Pensioners' Day on August 25 and SSS Family Day on Sept. 2, 2012.

The wait for good news, once again, is frustrated because the pensioners' hopes that the SSS will increase their pensions have not come about. It has been a long time since they got their increase. If memory serves me right, the retiree's pension last increase was in September 2007.

At the time of this writing, President PNoy is yet to speak at the SSS Anniversary on September 3 and perhaps, he would announce the increase as he promised during his State of the Nation Address. In that address he said the pension should not be less than P5,000. That got a lot of applause and it raised hopes for some relief to pensioners who are still getting P1,200, the price of one meal of a top executive in a fine restaurant.

PNoy knows this and when he spoke of an increase he also raised hopes of thousands. If he announces a significant increase, fine but if there is none, better luck next time. Hope springs eternal they say, but for the pensioners hope can fade daily.

Although the highest expectation is on an increase, even minimal, the SSS still serves as the employee's best source of relief in difficult times. This is one reason people, especially the low income, now desire to join the SSS. Their problem though is sustaining the monthly premiums even if these are paid on a quarterly basis.

For the fixed salaried there is no difficulty unless their employer deducts the premiums from the workers' salaries and does not remit them, thus depriving the workers of help at the time of need, like availing of sickness benefit and getting a salary loan.

Of course the SSS runs after the erring employers but the workers should be more vigilant and insure that their premiums are remitted. Many discover only that their payments were not remitted when they applied for benefits and are denied or when they retire and know that they lack months of payment.

For this year's celebration, the SSS has adopted the theme “Sa SSS, Kabuhayanang Pinagsikapan Seguridad Maaasahan.” These are nice words that reiterate the purpose for which the SSS was created – to provide security for one's labor in time of need.

But life is not as easy as it seems – we all know that and in the SSS one has to undergo processes that intimidate some people to the extent that they hire fixers who are not allowed or are prohibited in the SSS. Fixers thrive in ignorance so that if the SSS wants to put an end to fixers who still operate despite the close watch by the agency, it must wage a massive public education program and constantly seek for the reduction of bureaucratic maze that threatens ordinary mortals.

Take the case of the annual confirmation of pensioners. All total disability, retiree and death pensioners are required to present themselves for ACOP during their month of contingency. Many could not do it.

So enterprising family members, instead of reporting the passing of the pensioner and get the death benefit, keep the myth that the pensioner is still alive and continue to collect the pension, especially if the pension was used as collateral in a lending company.

This forced the SSS to require the pensioner to confirm that they are still alive by reporting to the SSS every year, if not their pensions are suspended until they present themselves.

This might be cumbersome but it protects us all.*          

back to top