One of the milestones laid out by the new administration of the Social Security System (SSS) is the improvement of the delivery of social-security services to members and the public. High on the agenda is how the hundreds of thousand of SSS members and their beneficiaries who troop to the agency’s offices every day may be served expeditiously without having to queue up for a long time.
Social Security Commission (SSC) Chairman Amado D. Valdez had earlier stated that partnerships with other relevant government agencies, such as the Philippine Statistics Authority, Department of the Interior and Local Government, National Bureau of Investigation and the Professional Regulation Commission, will be further enhanced, specifically in terms of data-sharing, to facilitate faster delivery of services and ease the documentary requirements of members. He said the enhanced partnerships will complement SSS plans to improve internal systems through automation of procedures to cut down the turnaround time in processing members’ benefits, SSS registration and other transactions.
The SSC also instructed the SSS management to consider implementing flexible working hours for its employees, as well as allowing them to work in SSS offices closer to their residences to improve service delivery, as well as to help ease traffic problems in the metropolis.
Valdez said that, with the current traffic condition, some employees, despite leaving home early, usually arrive late for work due to the traffic gridlock, and the same goes when they go home in the evening, resulting in having workers who are stressed out with not enough rest and time for family. With the flexi-time schedule and assignment to branches closer to their residences, employees can avoid heavy traffic without sacrificing quality service to members.
The SSS has 165 branches and 77 service offices nationwide to cater to the needs of more than 34 million members. SSS branches operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, while service offices—which are usually in shopping malls—are open from Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Out of the 165 SSS branches, 10 branches are open on Saturday, namely, SSS Diliman, Makati-Ayala and Makati-Gil Puyat in NCR; Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, Bacolod and Iloilo in the Visayas; and Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Zamboanga in Mindanao.
If they can’t visit SSS branches and service offices, members can also check their records through the SSS web site: www.sss.gov.ph. By just clicking a few buttons, they can verify their records and even submit benefit and claim applications online.
The SSS web site allows individual members to submit their salary-loan applications, and maternity notifications and reports of newly hired workers, employee maternity notifications, contribution and loan collection lists and certification of employee salary-loan applications by employers.
Aside from the My.SSS facility at the SSS web site, members can also access their records using their mobile phones through TEXTSSS. To get the list of keywords, just text SSS HELP to 2600 with a service fee of P2.50 for Smart and Globe and P2 for Sun subscribers.
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For more details on SSS programs, members can drop by the nearest SSS branch, visit the SSS web site (www.sss.gov.ph), or contact the SSS call center at 920-6446 to 55, which accepts calls from 7 a.m. on Monday all the way to 7 a.m. on Saturday.
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.