The Social Security System (SSS) and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) inked an enhanced cooperation deal to ensure the social security protection of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) worldwide.
SSS president and chief executive officer Rolando Ledesma Macasaet and DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) in August to promote the benefits of SSS membership to OFWs.
Macasaet said the partnerships aim to educate OFWs, both those preparing for deployment and those reintegrating into society, about SSS membership and its benefits.
The SSS and DMW agreed to conduct information and awareness campaigns to urge OFWs to get social security coverage from the former.
“There are 10 million OFWs and other overseas Filipinos worldwide, but only 1.8 million are SSS members. We hope that our partnership with the DMW will extend social security protection to more OFWs,” Macasaet said in a statement.
He said that as contributing members, they will have access to a comprehensive set of benefits, such as sickness, maternity, disability, unemployment, retirement, funeral, and death benefits.
They can also take advantage of loan programs, such as salary and calamity, and avail of the Pension Loan Program once they have become retirement pensioners.
Macasaet urged OFWs to become SSS members and aim to pay at least 120 monthly contributions to ensure that they qualify for a lifetime pension.
“Many Filipinos working abroad prefer to retire here in the Philippines after spending a significant portion of their productive years overseas. Unfortunately, when they return home, they may not be eligible for a monthly pension because they overlooked their SSS contributions,” he explained.
Cacdac said that OFWs do not retire at 65 years old. “They come home a lot earlier than the optional or mandatory retirement age. We need to start building the future already for OFWs who are currently there, the two-million-marker, as I like to call them. So, they will have a nest egg so to speak, when they retire.”
Cacdac added that DMW will start working with SSS, not to create a separate pension fund for OFWs but to build on what the SSS already has.
Macasaet, meanwhile, has stepped down from his position effective Oct. 6, after nearly two years with the state-run pension fund. He accepted a nomination to represent a party-list group in the May 12, 2025 midterm elections. ||
