Question & AnswerQ&A (EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 102)
The primary purpose of the Social Security System is to provide covered employees and their families protection against the hazards of disability, sickness, old age, and death, promoting their well-being in the spirit of social justice.
The Social Security Commission is composed of the Minister of Labor and Employment, the SSS Administrator, and six appointive members: two labor representatives, two management representatives, and two from the general public, all appointed by the President of the Philippines.
The appointive members serve a term of three years, with the initial appointments staggered such that two members serve for one year, two for two years, and two for three years.
Members receive seven hundred pesos per diem for each meeting attended, with no compensation paid for more than eight meetings a month. Members who hear cases pending before the Commission also receive the same per diem.
The actuary must submit a valuation report on the SSS benefit program every five years or more frequently if necessary. They undertake actuarial studies and calculations related to benefit increases and financial stability, ensuring actuarial soundness of the reserve fund.
Compensation includes all actual remuneration for employment, including mandated cost of living allowance and the cash value of remuneration in any medium other than cash, except the portion exceeding three thousand pesos per month.
It is the sum of the six highest monthly salary credits within the twelve months immediately preceding the semester of contingency, divided by one hundred eighty.
The minimum monthly pension is two hundred pesos, and the aggregate amount paid shall not be less than sixty times the monthly pension, except for secondary beneficiaries.
Primary beneficiaries are entitled to eighty percent of the monthly pension, while dependents receive the dependents' pension. If no primary beneficiaries exist and death occurs within sixty months, secondary beneficiaries may receive a lump sum benefit.
A funeral grant of two thousand pesos is paid to help defray the funeral expenses of a covered member, permanently totally disabled employee, or retiree.
The daily allowance shall not be less than seven pesos and fifty centavos, nor exceed seventy-five pesos, and shall not be paid for more than one hundred twenty days in a calendar year.
Employers deduct and withhold employees' monthly SSS contributions based on a schedule corresponding to their monthly salary credit, with the maximum compensation covered limited to three thousand pesos.
Not more than twelve percent of total yearly contributions plus three percent of other revenues shall be used for salaries, office expenses, and maintenance of regional offices. Unused allowable expenses cannot be carried forward to subsequent years.
Investments include direct housing loans, loans for hospitals, short and medium-term loans to covered employees, bonds, debentures, preferred and common stocks of solvent Philippine corporations with specific limitations on each investment type, generally capped at ten to thirty percent of the Investment Reserve Fund.
The provisions took effect on January 1, 1987.