SSS Plans to Expand in Bangsamoro Region

State-run Social Security System (SSS) is seeking to expand its coverage and services in the Bangsamoro region by establishing more linkages and opening new offices in the area.

Social Security Commission (SSC) chairman Amado Valdez stressed the need to create more SSS branches and to utilize electronic payment facilities in the region due to lack of banking facilities which the SSS greatly relies on.

“Members in far-flung areas often need to travel for hours to a city center where banking facilities are available. For example in Basilan, there are several banks in Isabela City, but only one in Lamitan City,” he said.

The SSS, citing Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data, said only 19 bank branches are located in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). With this, Valdez said the SSS would focus on establishing more offices and strengthening more linkages, which would improve the accessibility of its services to its members in the region.

“There is a need to open a service office in Lamitan City, Basilan, while we are also looking into upgrading the Tawi-Tawi service office into a full-service branch,” he said.

The chairman said SSS will also promote the use of Globe Telecom's GCash service for contribution and loan payments as mobile phone usage is “more reliable and easier” than bank transactions. He said the state-run agency would also continue to cooperate with local government units and government agencies to provide coverage to their job order and contractual personnel who are not members of the Government Service Insurance System.

To date, the SSS Mindanao Operations Group has four divisions with a total of 46 offices. A total of P11.53 billion in contributions has been collected from the region in 2016, only eight percent of the total collection nationwide. SSS-registered employers in Mindanao stood at around 109,000, 12 percent of total covered employers, while individual SSS members was recorded at 4.9 million or 14 percent of total individual members in the country.