The Social Security System (SSS) and Bureau of Immigration (BI) have signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to provide social security coverage for job order and contract of service workers in the government.
In a statement Wednesday, March 29, Rolando Ledesma Macasaet, SSS president and chief executive officer said the MOA will benefit at least 800 job order and contract of service workers serving in the immigration regulatory body.
Under the MOA, BI’s job order and contract of service workers will get SSS coverage under the KaSSSama sa Coverage Program. Under the program, these BI workers will be classified as self-employed members of SSS.
The agreement also states that BI will act as a Coverage and Collection Partner of SSS. As such, SSS authorized BI to collect and remit the monthly contributions of these workers through a salary-deduction scheme.
“The SSS aims to secure the future of all job order and contract of service workers in government agencies nationwide. Although these employees work in government offices, they are considered private self-employed members and are not covered by the Government Service Insurance System,” Macasaet said.
He explained that as self-employed SSS members, they will be entitled to receive social security benefits such as sickness, maternity, disability, retirement, funeral and death benefits.
They will also get additional coverage from the Employees' Compensation Program (ECP) for work-related contingencies. Moreover, they may apply for various member loans offered by SSS such as salary and calamity loans.
For the MOA signing, BI Commissioner Norman G. Tansingco thanked SSS for bringing social security benefits to their job order and contract of service workers which they can rely on during times of contingencies.
As of December 2022, SSS has partnered with 1,531 local government units (LGUs), 499 national government agencies, 111 state universities and colleges (SUCs), and 68 local water districts covering job order and contract of service workers through the KaSSSama sa Coverage Program with a total collection exceeding P5.5 billion.