A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed by the top officials of the Social Security System (SSS) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) on March 9 is expected to provide social security coverage to job order and contract of service workers in the government.
Under the MOA, BI’s job order and contract of service workers will get SSS coverage under the “KaSSSama sa Coverage” program. Under the program, these BI workers will be classified as self-employed members of the SSS. The agreement also states that BI will act as a “coverage and collection partner” of the SSS. As such, the SSS authorized the BI to collect and remit the monthly contributions of these workers through a salary-deduction scheme.
“The SSS aims to secure the future of all job order and contract of service workers in government agencies nationwide. Although these employees work in government offices, they are considered private self-employed members and are not covered by the Government Service Insurance System,” SSS President and CEO Rolando L. Macasaet was quoted in a statement as saying.
Macasaet explained that as self-employed SSS members, they will be entitled to receive social security benefits such as sickness, maternity, disability, retirement, funeral and death benefits. They will also get additional coverage from the Employees’ Compensation Program (ECP) for work-related contingencies. Moreover, they may apply for various member loans offered by SSS such as salary and calamity loans.
BI Commissioner Norman G. Tansingco thanked the SSS for bringing social security benefits to their job order and contract of service workers, which they can rely on during times of contingencies.
Meanwhile, Macasaet visited the “KaSSSama sa Coverage” program servicing-counter set up for the occasion in the BI head office in Intramuros, Manila. SSS personnel from the SSS Manila Branch manned the online and onsite servicing counter to assist BI workers in creating online account with SSS through the My.SSS facility, registration with SSS as self-employed members, generating a “payment reference number” for contribution payment, verification of member’s records and answering inquiries on various SSS benefits and loan programs.
As of December last year, the SSS has partnered with 1,531 local government units, 499 national government agencies, 111 state universities and colleges and 68 local water districts covering job order and contract of service workers through the “KaSSSama sa Coverage” program with total collection exceeding P5.5 billion.
Image credits: SSS
