THE Social Security System (SSS) announced last Tuesday its newly-launched flexible payment scheme aims to increase the number of farmers and fishermen paying contributions to the state pension fund.
The new program would allow farmers and fishermen to pay their contributions for any of the last 12 months in the current month, according to the SSS. An executive said the pension fund manager plans to roll-out the program in the fourth quarter of the year, pending finalization of the program’s rules and regulations.
SSS Cooperatives and Informal Sector Department Acting Head Carlo C. Villacorta said the state pension fund seeks to cover the 9.4 million farmers and fishermen nationwide.
Villacorta explained that as of June last year about 636,000 farmers and fishermen are registered with the SSS. Out of the total figures, only 35,000 have paid their SSS contributions for the month of June 2021, he added.
He added they plan to double the number of farmers and fishermen paying their SSS contributions next year.
“We want the 9.4 million to [be covered] to be honest,” he said in a news conference during the 65th anniversary of the state pension fund on September 13.
“We might start a little bit slow [but we want] to double the current registration and hopefully get sooner than later the entire universe of farmers and fishermen one way or another,” he added.
Under the new program, farmers would have the opportunity to pay any time their SSS contributions once they have converted their harvests into cash, SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Michael G. Regino said.
“As an agricultural nation, our farmers and fishermen have been an integral part of our economy, and yet, most of them do not have social security coverage. We saw that our farmers and fisherfolk do not have a regular monthly income from their produce, unlike ordinary workers,” Regino said.
“They only get their earnings on a seasonal basis. Under the new scheme, these workers will no longer follow the deadline of the regular contribution payment schedule,” the SSS chief added.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza