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[av_heading heading=’SSS and GSIS again’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY JOHNNY NOVERA
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Thursday, February 23, 2017
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WE THANK the Social Security System or SSS for making clarification on the issues we raised in our article in Panay News concerning benefits extended to members in their Letter to the Editor on Feb. 17, 2017 sent by Marissu G. Bugante, vice president of SSS Public Affairs and Special Events Division.
It is also good to know that SSS now found innovative solutions in the management of their funds through direct investment in the power, water and other utilities sector, and in Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) projects that may later improve the income of the agency.
However, with the recent surge in the cost of living, we still believe that SSS should re-consider the idea of implementing or raising the pension of retirees in the lower income bracket to a minimum of P5,000 per month similar to what GSIS did for their members four years ago. After all we think that this will only involve a small percentage of the pensioners. As we already mentioned, the present lowest pension from SSS of P2,977 per month is equivalent only to five days minimum wage payment. How can a pensioner live on the amount?
SSS was founded in 1957 and operating now for the past 60 years. How does it compare with the Government Service Insurance System or GSIS that is covering employees in the government?
As cited in our column of Jan. 17, 2017, SSS brought its assets to expand by eight percent toP415 billion as of May 2014, when compared to P213 billion in December 2013. Total revenues reached P64 billion or up eight percent from P59 billion for the same period in the preceding year.
Comparatively, GSIS increased its total assets by 15.8 percent, hitting P910 billion in 2014 with comprehensive income at P128.7 billion, or 189 percent growth from the previous year’s P44.48 billion.
With 2.2 million SSS pensioners and 32 million actively working members, how come that GSIS with a smaller membership appears to have much bigger assets and earnings than SSS? We will share with you our findings and comments on this in our next column.
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About Iloilo, we are pleased to read of the report on the United Nations citation last month of our city as one of the sites in PH for model metropolitan governance, together with Cebu.
We should indeed be thankful for our united political leadership in Iloilo for the first time in recent years led by Sen. Franklin Drilon and the cooperation of Iloilo’s Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr., Cong. Jerry P. Treñas and Iloilo City’s Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog. Iloilo has expanded and improved lately in terms of new buildings, roads and other infrastructures and in the response of investors locally and from other parts of the country.
Megaworld is accelerating the development of the Iloilo Business Park to double office space and meet demand by constructing 10 buildings from the current five.
Aside from Megaworld, we can see that a dozen or so major companies have invaded Iloilo to invest and get involved in our development, introducing multi-storey structures that completely change the landscape and face of our city. (For comments or re-actions, please e-mail to jnoveracompany@yahoo.com)/PN
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