QUALIFIED Social Security System (SSS) pensioners, including those in Negros Occidental, will receive Friday, March 10, their retroactive increase of P1,000 for the month of February.
The SSS, in a statement Thursday, said about P2.07 billion worth of pension will be released as last month’s differential of the recently approved P1,000 additional benefit.
On March 3, pensioners first received their P1,000 adjustment for the month of January.
They are expected to get another P1,000 additional increase for this month on March 17.
“We are happy to inform our regular pensioners that the P1,000 additional benefit differential for February 2017 is now deposited in their respective bank accounts,” SSS president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Dooc.
From 2.04 million pensioners in January, almost 30,000 were added to the list of beneficiaries for February.
“We are expecting that the number of pensioners who will enjoy the P1,000 additional benefit will continue to increase in the coming months,” Dooc added.
In Negros Island Region (NIR), there are at least 160,225 qualified pensioners as of November last year. Of the number, the highest is Bacolod City, 51,857.
On top of the P1,000 increase, some pensioners are also receiving on Friday their regular monthly pension.
SSS again urged pensioners to immediately report depository banks which failed to credit to their accounts the second tranche of P1,000 additional benefit.
President Rodrigo Duterte approved the P1,000 additional benefit for SSS pensioners on January 10 while the order authorizing the release was signed on February 22.
The amount is half of the initial proposal of P2,000 across-the-board pension increase.
The approved pension increase resulted to additional total monthly members’ contribution ranging from P15 to P740, which is at least one percent higher than the current 11 percent contribution rates.