SSS wants compulsory membership for OFWs
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The Social Security System wants the Labor Department and the Philippine Overseas Workers Administration to require registration of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) as voluntary members of the fund.”We are in serious talks with the Department of Labor and Employment and POEA for the mandatory registration of OFWs before their departure for abroad,” Horacio Templo, SSS officer in charge, said.
Templo said SSS the purpose is to secure protection of the estimated 515,762 Filipino workers deployed in various countries all over the world.
About 16,000 OFWs are enrolled in the SSS Flexi-fund program, a tax-exempt savings and pension plan that the fund offers to its members on top of its regular social security program.
Templo said SSS is working towards forging bilateral social security agreements with countries that employ a substantial number of Filipino workers in addition to its existing agreements with Austria, United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, Spain, France, Canada and Quebec, Switzerland, Belgium and South Korea.
“We are also studying the possibility of establishing more foreign branch offices to augment the 14 existing offices in order to serve more OFWs,” Templo said.
Unofficial estimates place the number of Filipinos in over 190 countries around the world at 8 million, comprising 20 percent of the total productive labor force of the country. At least 4.8 million are migrant workers who have specific contracts but without proper documentation.
SSS reported its net income went up in the first quarter of 2006 on the back of higher contributions, posting a 37.8-percent increase in profits to P2.37 billion from P1.72 billion in 2005. The first-quarter performance this year was a result of higher collections at P12.94 billion, or 13.7 percent more than the P11.38 billion in 2005.
SSS’ total assets grew 4.1 percent to P208.04 billion, while its reserve fund went up 3.9 percent to P204 billion.
Source: The Manila Times
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