For some people, the first day of May is another day off for rest and relaxation. But for many, Labor Day is just another busy day as workers report for work, especially those who are paid on a daily basis.
Before the pandemic, this day is observed with festive celebrations as simultaneous job fairs were being conducted nationwide by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to offer jobs to new graduates or unemployed individuals. Labor groups also convene to push for various programs that help uplift members of their sector, while some establishments, malls included, offer special discount sales.
This is also the day when the labor sector looks forward to an announcement of wage increases. Presidents often approve wage hikes or declare benefit packages for workers on this day. We also see labor associations and their members out on the streets every May 1 to plead their causes.
For SSS, the celebration of Labor Day in 1997 is one of the unforgettable events in the institution’s history. That day, we witnessed the passage of Republic Act 8282 or the Social Security Act, which amended Republic Act 1161 or the Social Security Act of 1957 that gave birth to the Social Security System (SSS).
SSS has been gearing towards universal coverage. From its inception in 1957, which mandated the coverage of all private sector employees and their respective employers including self-employed professionals such as lawyers, doctors, actors, actresses, among others, the pension fund has since extended membership to cover those who are in the voluntary informal sector since 1980.
In 1993, SSS covered all types of house helpers and then two years later in 1995, it started covering farmers and fisherfolks, overseas Filipino workers, and non-working spouses. Its increasing wide membership base encouraged the management to develop strategic partnership programs toward increasing SSS coverage among self-employed workers. As of end-2020, we have tied up with 3,310 Coverage & Collection Partners for coverage of Job Order workers in government, self-employed professionals, members of cooperatives, and informal sector groups. SSS is not selective to those who need social security protection in times of contingencies brought by sickness, maternity, disability, unemployment, retirement, funeral and death.
As of March 2021, SSS has recorded 40.36 million members (30.54 million private sector employees including some 97,000 house helpers, 3.37 million self-employed workers, 5.11 million voluntary members, and 1.34 million OFW members). Of this number, 10.72 million are paying members from January to March 2021. In addition, there are 991,135 active employers registered with the SSS, and 1,305 informal sector groups and 81 partner agents are under our AlkanSSSya and Partner Accreditation Programs, respectively. Further, SSS has a workforce of 7,846 employees as of February 2021.
SSS never stops in its coverage expansion and collection efforts so as to increase its contributing members and contribution collections to be able to sustain its mandate of providing social security protection to those that are in need.
Throughout the agency’s 63 years of existence, it has gone a long way to uplift the lives of Filipinos and pensioners in current and future generations. Since SSS is generally a defined benefit pension scheme, every member is qualified to get benefits and privileges based on the pool of contributions that they contributed to the System while still working and earning.
Our members are composed of ordinary and hardworking individuals from laborers to corporate people. It makes no difference whatever ethnicity, race, position, or class they belong because we treat them all equally and they get the same benefits.
For me, this is the essence of Labor Day, that is, giving recognition to all our Filipino workers…the lifeblood of our pension fund.
I remember a quote from renowned civil rights advocate, Martin Luther King Jr., who once said: “All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”
Maligayang Araw ng Paggawa sa lahat ng manggagawang Pilipino!
Aurora C. Ignacio is SSS president and chief executive officer.
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