MANILA - At least 20 million working Filipinos who are members of the Social Security System are in danger of retiring with inadequate pensions due to inconsistent payment of contributions, an official of the state-run pension fund said Tuesday.
Out of the near 47 million Filipinos in the labor force, only about 41 million are SSS members while 4 million or more are non-members of either SSS or its government counterpart Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), an official said during a Senate Committee on Government Corporations and Public Enterprises.
"Yung 41 million members of SSS not all of them are actively paying. Meron diyan nagbayad isa, dalawang beses tapos na wala na. (Some are paying just once or twice) Effectively member but will not get significant benefits. Ang estimate ng staff namin maybe close to 20M will not have significant social insurance later on," SSS Chief Actuary Edgar Cruz said.
SSS benefits received by its members are determined by the amount contributed by the member to the pension fund.
So a 20-year member who has paid diligently all the way up to the retirement age of 65 will likely receive a better pension than an individual with sporadic contributions.
SSS said it now has about 40.98 million members and 3.297 million pensioners.
The range of pensions being received can go from as high as P18,495, to as low as P2,000 a month, depending on the contributions of the members.
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