STATE-OWNED pension fund Social Security System (SSS) has condoned P9.5 billion worth of short-term loan penalties under its Loan Restructuring Program (LRP).
In a statement, SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Aurora C. Ignacio said the fund generated an income of P4.4 billion from restructuring P10.9 billion worth of loans between April 2018 and April 2019.
“Members who paid their outstanding loans in full through LRP will again enjoy their loan privileges after six months from the time that they have paid their loans. They are now worry-free from any loan deductions on their future benefits such as their retirement pension. We encourage those who are paying their restructured loans in installment terms to ensure that they are paying their loan obligations on time to eventually regain their good standing with the pension fund,” said Ignacio.
While the first LRP posted remarkable results, many members failed to avail themselves of the program and clamored for another LRP. In response, SSS opened the second implementation of the program upon the approval of President Duterte.
Ignacio said they are pleased with the results of the two LRPs, especially with the number of member-borrowers who applied under the program. Both the first and second LRP exceeded its target number of applicants by 68 percent and 28 percent, respectively.
“SSS understands that natural calamities make it difficult for its members to pay their loan obligations. We are glad that through the LRP, the pension fund was able to help more than 1.51 million member-borrowers who were affected by various calamities to settle their unpaid loans,” Ignacio said.
The SSS first opened its LRP on April 28, 2016, until April 27, 2017, to assist calamity-affected members who were struggling to pay their short-term loans such as salary, emergency, educational (old), Study-Now-Pay-Later Plan, Voc-Tech and Investment Incentive.
In its first implementation, the SSS restructured P13.8 billion worth of loans and condoned P13.5 billion worth of penalties, which benefited more than 856,000 members. It also generated an income amounting to P5.8 billion.