Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III has commended former Social Security System (SSS) President and Chief Executive Officer Aurora Ignacio for her efforts in accelerating the pension fund’s digitalization processes for the benefit of its members.
According to Dominguez, Ignacio spearheaded the implementation of various digitalization initiatives in the SSS, all of which were put on the fast track at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Most SSS transactions by the public have now shifted to digital. In 2021, 75 percent of transactions were done through various electronic and online channels.
These include online filing of retirement benefit for particular retirees; unemployment insurance benefit; sickness benefit and maternity benefit application and notification for individual members; sickness and maternity benefit reimbursement for employers; among others.
The salary and calamity loan applications and the renewal of pension loans are now also done online.
“The SSS’ timely digital switch on the watch of Aurora Ignacio as its President and CEO has enabled the pension fund to continue doing business,” said Dominguez, who is concurrent chairman of the Social Security Commission (SSC).
He said the unhampered operations of the pension fund amid the pandemic allowed more than 40 million members with relative ease—and releasing on time the benefits due them—despite the mobility restrictions.
Under Ignacio’s leadership, benefit claims and loan proceeds are now released to the designated disbursement account of the SSS member or pensioner through PESONet participating banks/e-wallets and Remittance Transfer Companies/Cash Payout Outlets.
The SSS Mobile App was also further enhanced with more features and capabilities.
By the end 2021, it had a total cumulative download of over 22 million and a total cumulative volume of transactions and inquiries of over 115 million.
In 2018, when the mobile app was launched, there were only 824,006 downloads.
Dominguez also recognized the SSS’ key role under Ignacio in the successful implementation of the Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS) program in 2020 – a paperless, corruption-free, and efficient distribution of the national government’s amelioration program.
A total of P45 billion in wage subsidies benefited around 3.1 million employee-beneficiaries and 113,000 employers.
When Ignacio assumed her post in the SSS, the pension fund had successfully collected more than half a billion pesos covering a universal bank’s unremitted and delayed remittances of contributions.
Through Ignacio’s initiative, the SSS also effectively implemented the terms of a lease contract where the lessee was obliged to turn over to SSS a building with a fair market value of P4 billion.
SSS was likewise able to negotiate the settlement of a long-standing collectible from another government agency amounting to P4.8 billion, with P1.56 billion paid in cash as initial settlement.