SSS to hike spending for social protection

THE Social Security System plans to increase its social protection expenditure by 5 percent next year from P80 billion this year as it strives to give ample assistance to its members.

“We have allocated P80 billion for our social protection expenditure this year. The amount should increase by 5 to 6 percent next year,” SSS officer-in-charge Horacio Templo said yesterday.

He said this is the amount that is being allocated by the pension fund to cover the claims of its members for their maternity, sickness and pension benefits.

Last year, SSS spent P73 billion to exercise its mandate on social protection.

“This is the extent of what we contribute to social protection,” Templo said.

An earlier report by the Asian Development Bank ranked the Philippines 22nd among 31 Asia-Pacific countries in social protection system.

But Templo clarified that the total expenditure protection that was quoted in the ADB study for 2004 to 2005 was grossly understated at P116.6 billion, which is equivalent to about 2.2 percent of the country’s total economic output as measured by Gross Domestic Product.

He said that since SSS is only one of several agencies that undertake the government’s social protection program, the amount could be much higher.

He said the actual amount could be double to triple what the ADB has quoted in its study since the P116.6 billion may even be less than what the three main agencies —SSS, the Government Service Insurance System, and the National Health Insurance Program are spending for their respective programs and mandates.

He said there are other agencies, such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which grants targeted assistance to the poor via the conditional cash transfers, and the Department of Education via its rice for school program.

He said the subsidies of the government on the operations of mass-based rail transport system in the country and on power generation are indirect subsidies meant to alleviate poverty.

“Ideally, the government should spend between 5 and 10 percent of GDP for social protection,” said Templo.

The study “Scaling Up the Social Protection Index for Committed Poverty Reduction” in The Philippines Country Report showed that the country registered an overall social protection index value of 0.18. –Elaine R. Alanguilan, Manila Standard Today