INTERESTED job order personnel of the City Hall in Cagayan de Oro City could now become self-employed members of the Social Security System (SSS) after City Mayor Oscar Moreno and the SSS executives entered into a memorandum of agreement on Thursday, January 11.

“Nakita namin dito na we need a social exempt for our employees kasi ang covered lang ng GSIS (Government Service Insurance System) yung casual at tsaka permanent (regular). So kawawa naman yung mga job order natin na wala silang social proteksyon (We noticed that we need a social exempt for our employees because the GSIS only covers casual and regular employees. It’s a pity that our job order workers will not have any social protection),” City Administrator Teodoro Sabuga-a Jr. said.

Sabuga-a also clarified that the SSS membership for job order workers is voluntary and not mandatory.

The city administrator added that voluntary job order personnel interested in the SSS membership will only need to fill up forms which are available in the SSS establishment.

As a self-employed SSS member, job order workers can enjoy salary loan privilege, and receive benefits on sickness, maternity, disabillity, retirement, and among others.

According to SSS, self-employed and voluntary members of SSS will have to pay the 11 percent of the monthly salary credit based on monthly earnings declared at the time of registration. The monthly contributions are based on the compensation of members.

The frequency of contribution payments for self-employed or a voluntary member can be on a monthly or quarterly basis. A quarter covers three consecutive calendar months ending on the last day of March, June, September and December.

A payment for one, two or all months for a calendar quarter may be made.

According to Sabuga-a, there are more than 1,000 job order personnel in the City Hall at present.