SSS@52: Source of Social Security, Strength and Stability

September 1, 2009 marks the 52nd Founding Anniversary of the Social Security System (SSS). With the Anniversary theme, “SSS@52: SOURCE OF SOCIAL SECURITY, STRENGTH AND STABILITY”, this year’s celebration will be headlined by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr. as Guest of Honor and Keynote Speaker at the Anniversary Program and Balikat ng Bayan Awards to be held today at the Ramon Magsaysay Hall of the SSS main office in Quezon City. Leading the Anniversary rites are Secretary Romulo L. Neri, SSS President and Chief and Executive Officer, and Social Security Commission Chairman Thelmo Y. Cunanan.

Since its inception, the SSS has been a dependable partner of the Filipino worker and his family. Directly, it has provided financial support to its members in their times of need. Indirectly, its investments have helped invigorate the Philippine economy. Through the decades, as its coverage expanded and its programs developed and sustained, the SSS evolved into an organization capable of servicing its members nationwide and in key cities overseas.

The SSS serves as more than a pension fund for private sector workers. It has developed a three-pronged role in society. First, the SSS is an instrument for social justice, which, through pensions and benefit grants, provides a safety net for members and protecting them against poverty and financial desperation. Second, it is a vehicle for income redistribution, wherein contributions from younger, healthier, and higher income members subsidize the benefits for the older, the infirm, and members of lower income, respectively. Finally, the SSS serves as a catalyst for economic growth, as our investment operations and loan programs assist in capital market and infrastructure development, as well as provide economic opportunities to members for livelihood, housing, and other financial needs.

In the past years, the institution faced many obstacles that tested its resilience and strengthened its foundation. Through far-ranging internal reforms and program enhancements, the SSS emerged stronger and more stable, with its improved actuarial fund life, and steadily increasing assets and fund reserves. Today, it again faces a daunting challenge: a global financial crisis that has rocked the economies of both developed and emerging nations.

Despite this, however, the SSS is still optimistic that like in the past, it can weather this storm. With its proven institutional and human resource capabilities, as well as solid financial core, the SSS will prove to be a bastion of calm and dependability that members can rely on. —www.sss.gov.ph