The SSS-GSIS Pensyonado (SGP) Partylist expressed high praise for the recent partnership between the Social Security System (SSS) and two cooperatives in Antique province.
More than 8,000 Antique co-op members with active SSS accounts can now conveniently submit their monthly contributions through their respective cooperatives.
“We have nothing but the highest of praise for the SSS and their new partnership with Belison and Hamtic Multi-Purpose Cooperatives (MPCs). The two Antique co-ops have been authorized to collect monthly contribution payments and facilitate the online transactions of co-op members with active SSS accounts,” SSS-GSIS Pensyonado Partylist spokesperson Fercival Yutan said on Saturday (July 20)
The SSS Accreditation Program for Cooperatives enables partnered cooperatives to collect and remit the SSS and Employees’ Compensation (EC) contributions. The agreement also allows co-op members to submit their monthly loan amortizations through their cooperative.
SSS President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rolando Ledesma Macasaet underscored the importance of establishing durable partnerships with cooperatives in securing the active SSS membership of co-op members as well as in fulfilling member-borrowers’ responsibility to pay their monthly amortizations regularly.
CEO Macasaet noted that SSS-authorized cooperatives can also facilitate certain SSS transactions. Co-op members can register for SSS membership and My.SSS accounts, enroll in a disbursement account, and submit online applications for benefits and loans.
“In providing such assistance to its members, the cooperatives may claim a service fee of P6.00 from SSS for every processed and approved transaction,” Macasaet said in his message.
According to CEO Macasaet, the agreement will also enroll more than 2,000 co-op members who lack SSS membership.
CEO Macasaet explained that the cooperatives can help ensure SSS members receive the social security protection they deserve. Farmers, fisherfolks, government employees, and businessmen will benefit from the partnership between the SSS and their co-ops.
“It will give their members a more convenient way of conducting SSS transactions through Hamtic and Belison MPC. It will also help them save money because they no longer have to visit SSS Antique, which is approximately 8 to 16 kilometers away from their towns, for their SSS transactions,” Macasaet said.
Hamtic and Belison MPCs will join DAO, Barbaza, Patnongon, Pandan, and Libertad MPCs as SSS partner cooperatives in the province of Antique.
CEO Macasaet also led the SSS delegation at the Stakeholder’s Forum held at the Eagles Place Hotel. The event tackled the importance of SSS membership and provided updates on its programs and services. More than 100 barangay officials, employers, local media practitioners, and self-employed members attended the forum.
Antique District Representative Antonio B. Legarda Jr. and Senator Loren B. Legarda also attended the Stakeholder’s Forum.
The two legislators pledged to subsidize a month of SSS contributions for almost 4,720 barangay officials in Antique. The total subsidy amounts to roughly P2.6 million.
