Wednesday, September 19, 2007 State pension fund’s assets reach P248B
THE Social Security System (SSS) announced that is consolidated assets have reached P248 billion while its reserve fund stands at P210 billion.
SSS assistant vice president Helen Solito said the agency “is a more stable and vibrant organization.”
SSS is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
Solito said the state-owned pension fund company began with a seed money of only P500,000 provided by the government in 1957.
SSS has collected over P500 billion from its members, while disbursing over P504.5 billion worth of benefits.
SSS president Corazon De La Paz said the “contribution collection over the past 50 years was supplemented by our investment income (that has) a cumulative amount of P274.7 billion.”
She said the most significant part of SSS’ financial performance “is (that) we have deliberately and successfully narrowed the contributions-benefit deficit of the past decades.”
From the P7.6 billion shortfall in contributions in 2001 to about less than a billion pesos in 2004, de la Paz said SSS saw a “dramatic turnaround” in its financial status in 2005 with the posting of P1.3 billion worth of surplus.
She said this was the “first surplus recorded in the last seven years.”
SSS also recorded a surplus of half a billion pesos last year.
“Hopefully, this trend will continue so we can pull away much farther from the actuarial imbalance besetting the fund for sometime,” de la Paz said.
She added that the company’s latest actuarial evaluation report showed that the life of the fund has improved, extending it from 2015 to about 2038.
“This is on the assumption that we are not giving any further adjustments in pension benefits or get a hike in premium rates imposed on paying members,” she said.
Solito said SSS survived political, economic and social upheavals as well as internal conflicts, and even attained growth.
Solito, during the SSS 50th anniversary celebration last month, said the fund’s growth and stability were made possible through a strong partnership with its stakeholders as well as company employers, who are considered as its “vital partners.” (TEP)
