The National Capital Region is expected to be downgraded to Alert Level 1 by March 1, and with the easing of restrictions on all government offices, the Social Security System should now lift its restrictions on face-to-face Annual Confirmation of Pensioners (ACOP).
The SSS has asked the 3 million pensioners to comply with the ACOP until March 31, 2022. The monthly pensions of those who fail to comply will be stopped on the following month.
Senior citizen and journalist Emmanuel Geslani said that the other methods of the SSS for ACOP compliance is thru mail, drop, courier, online or thru chats with the SSS staff by enrolling in the MYSSS account.
Geslani is appealing to the SSS to allow pensioners to comply with ACOP by personal appearance, which was the regular means to assure the pensioners’ continued monthly pensions.
Many of the SSS pensioners are not computer literate and a lot of them, especially in the provinces, do not have computers to use for online compliance. It’s also a challenge to most of them to complete the ACOP form online, assuming they are able to get a computer for this purpose.
Another burden is to bring the completed ACOP form to the nearest SSS branch office for drop box, mail or courier. This is additional expense, so why not just go to the SSS office for their ACOP compliance.
The requirements that Geslani opposed is the inclusion of a medical certificate in the envelope containing the ACOP application, two IDS, self declaration of non-marriage, and signatures of the bank manager or the Barangay chairman when filing through mail or drop box.
The requirement of a medical certificate will be a burden to many pensioners who will have to spend for the medical exam, and they might have difficulties or are unable to see a doctor in their localities.
SSS removed the face-to-face confirmation of its pensioners amid the pandemic and due to the rise in alert levels in the country. The agency suspended the ACOP for almost two years as a concession to the pensioners. However, from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022 pensioners are now required to confirm their existence thru the different methods like mail, drop box or online.
The IATF has downgraded the NCR classification to alert level 2 and expects to go to Alert Level 1 by March 1. Hopefully, the relaxations of alert levels with follow in other areas in the country.
It is now the right time for SSS to return to the face-to-face confirmation for the benefit and ease of millions of senior pensioners. After all, they who deserve more in life should not be burdened by bureaucratic systems.
The lowering of the NCR to low risk and Alert level 1 in March will allow more personnel of SSS to attend to the needs of our pensioners, instead of making it more difficult for them to receive their hard-earned pensions.