The Social Security System (SSS) said March 8 that it released P156.7 billion in retirement benefits last year to 2.2 million members.
SSS vice president for Benefits Administration Division Joy Villacorta said that of the 4.7 million benefits disbursed to pensioners, members, and their beneficiaries in 2023, nearly half, or 47 percent, received retirement benefits.
Villacorta said the retirement benefits paid in 2023 grew by 10.7 percent, from the P141.5 billion released to over two million payees in 2022. The majority of these payees, at 87.46 percent of the total, are pensioners.
“Retirement benefit is a cash benefit being granted by SSS to a member who can no longer work due to old age,” Villacorta said, adding that members who paid at least 120 monthly contributions will get a lifetime monthly pension while those with less than 120 monthly contributions will receive a one-time lump sum amount.
She said that death benefit came in second with a total release of P70.1 billion to 1.4 million beneficiaries last year, slightly lower than the P70.2 billion death benefits to 1.3 million beneficiaries in 2022.
“SSS grants cash benefit to beneficiaries of a deceased member. Deceased members with 36 monthly contributions will entitle their beneficiaries to a monthly pension. In comparison, beneficiaries of those with less than 36 monthly contributions will get a one-time lump sum amount,” she added in a statement.
Maternity benefit follows with a disbursement of P14.1 billion to 357,000 members in 2023, which rose by 9.6 percent from about P12.9 billion recorded in 2022.
Villacorta said that female members who have paid at least three monthly contributions in the last 12 months before the semester of childbirth, miscarriage, or emergency termination of pregnancy can avail of the maternity benefit.
Under the Expanded Maternity Leave Law, the SSS maternity benefit is paid to an eligible member at every instance of her pregnancy since March 2019.
Disability benefit, meanwhile, accounted for P7.5 billion, and released to over 130,000 members last year, or a 16.3 percent increase from the P6.4 billion released in 2022.
“Members who become disabled, either partially or totally, can receive a monthly pension or lump sum amount under the disability benefit. Members who have paid at least 36 monthly contributions are qualified to get a monthly disability pension while those with less than 36 monthly contributions will be granted a lump sum amount,” Villacorta added.
The disbursed funeral benefit to 211,000 beneficiaries stood at P4.8 billion, while sickness benefit of P3.2 billion was provided to 376,000 members.
Claimants of deceased members with 36 or more monthly contributions may receive a variable amount from P20,000 to P60,000, depending on the number of contributions paid by the member. The funeral benefit arising from the death of a member who paid less than 36 monthly contributions is fixed at P12,000.
Sickness benefit, on the other hand, is a daily cash allowance paid for the number of days a member cannot work due to sickness or injury.
Unemployment benefit is the least availed in 2023 with total disbursement of P914.1 million to 64,000 members, down by 4.9 percent from the P961.4 million released to 75,000 members in 2022.
“This is also a reflection of the continuing improvement in the Philippine labor market with the unemployment rate reaching its lowest levels last year,” she said.
Villacorta noted that benefit payments in 2023 amounted to P257.4 billion, or up by 6.9 percent from the P240.6 billion disbursed in 2022. ||
