(This letter is addressed to Sun.Star Cebu columnist Bong O. Wenceslao)
Kindly allow us to make a minor clarification in reference to your piece in Sun.Star
titled “Possible SRP traffic meltdown” dated May 29.
The “10 working days” refer to the Social Security System's (SSS) internal processing of a member's application for the Unified Multipurpose Identification (Umid) card.
After 10 working days, the Umid card is then mailed to the member's address. Mailing takes an additional period of two weeks on average, depending on the member's location.
In all, it takes an average period of one month from the date of application to the actual receipt of the card.
It is safe to advise the member to verify with SSS if the Umid card was “RTS” (returned to sender) if the waiting period has already reached over two months since the date of application. UMID cards are rendered “RTS” after three failed mailing attempts.
With regard to your personal SSS ID, the postal office said it no longer has the delivery record of your ID card that we issued in April 2002. As for our own records, your card is not among the listed SSS IDs that were returned to us by the postal office and shredded for disposal.
Your application some three years ago may be among those affected by the few instances of data capture machine failure.
Out of the 12 million applications in the old SSS ID system, there were only about a hundred such instances, or a small percentage of the total. In the rare event that this happens, the member's data captured at the SSS branch were not transmitted to the Main Office for processing at the ID Card Production Department (IDCPD).
The old SSS ID system was replaced by the Umid in May 2011. Unlike the previous ID system, the Umid now has a control measure to prevent unprocessed ID applications by identifying those that were screened at SSS offices but have no corresponding data capture records sent to IDCPD.
We apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced, and should you decide to apply for a new SSS ID, the SSS Cebu Branch is ready to assist you. There is no need to pay the SSS ID replacement fee since you did not receive the card we issued in 2002.
We also thank you for helping us reach out to our members through your column.--Marissu G. Bugante, Vice President, Public Affairs and Special Events Division