Michael G. Regino, President and CEO of SSS, announced that self-employed, volunteer, non-working spouses, and land-based Overseas Filipino Workers can pay their contributions through the online method of their choice. This was done in cooperation with the different financial and private sectors.
“We encourage our members and employers to pay their contributions using our online channels as through these payment facilities, they no longer must go to our branches. These can be accessed at the safety and convenience of their homes or offices,” says Michael.
Individual members may furthermore use the websites and mobile apps of other SSS-accredited collecting partners, such as most banks in the public and commercial sectors of the nation. However, both commercial and domestic employers have access to online payment methods.
SSS is a publicly funded social insurance programme that the Philippine government requires to provide coverage to all wage earners in the private, public, and unorganised sectors.
The agency is mandated to set up, develop, promote, and perfect a sound, tax-free social security system that fits the needs of everyone in the Philippines. This system should encourage social justice through savings and protect members and their beneficiaries from the risks of disability, illness, maternity, old age, death, and other things that could cause a loss of income or a financial burden.
OpenGov Asia earlier reported that digitalising SSS pension fund services remain one of the top priorities in the Philippines and that more online services will be added to its digital channels.
More than 30 member services and more than 20 employer services are currently easily accessible on the SSS website. Transactions for membership, contributions, loan granting and repayment, and benefit distributions are only a few examples of the services offered. Other SSS internet platforms also extend some of these features.
Further, almost all new online services are made available via the agency’s website, which serves as its main online platform. However, more work is being done to make the services on this portal accessible to smartphone users via the SSS Mobile App.
The agency is slowly making it mandatory for its programme to be done online. Those who don’t have their own way to do business online can use the e-Centres in branches.
In the meantime, the Department of Education (DepEd) worked with the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) and exchanged alumni to improve education about climate change through an online programme called Climate Changemakers.
The National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) has recognised Climate Changemakers as the first climate change training course as part of the Department’s Professional Development Priorities.
Through online training and other digital education initiatives, the programme aims to make teachers better able to teach climate change skills, integrate climate change skills, and act on climate change in the country.
The ten-week online course, which used synchronous and asynchronous modalities to address common misconceptions about climate change, was successfully completed by 400 instructors. Additionally, it gave teachers a place to consider their own learning, exchange difficulties and effective methods.
The Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Professional Fellows Program (YSEALI PFP) is a two-way exchange programme run by the U.S. Department of State. Its goal is to help young leaders from different countries in Asia and the United States to get to know each other better and strengthen economic relationships.