THE Social Security System-Davao is encouraging digital freelancers, such as Virtual Assistants to become SSS members as they have created ways to make their membership and contributions easier, like online registration and payment systems.
“Yung mga VAs, mga freelancers naa tay self-employed member type. Gina-encourage namo na magbayad online, actually they can get their SSS number sa online pud sa atong website,” Mona Lorraine Tombo, SSS-Davao regional communications officer, said during her guesting at Kapehan sa Dabaw.
(The VAs and freelancers, we have a self-employed member type for them. We encourage them to pay online. They can get their SSS number online through the website as well.)
Tombo said self-employed VAs can get their Payment Reference Number online and pay their contributions through Gcash.
“Aside from online payments, they can also pay at the payment centers in the malls,” Tombo said.
She added that SSS-Davao is targeting the digital workers sector, as they have not yet reached out to a certain group that can help them in reaching out to the freelancing ICT (information and communication technology) workers. Tombo said that what they have contacted are companies employing VA workers.
“More on employers that have VAs, that serve as their employers, that have an employee-employer relationship,” Tombo said.
Currently, the region has 75,000 workers in the ICT and BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) sectors. Though there are no available data for the current number of freelance Virtual Assistants in Davao, the presence of many online platforms, various Facebook groups, numerous job postings, and agencies looking for VAs points to a large and active freelancing community in the region.
Tombo said they would also want to educate the sector on the various benefits of being an SSS member.
“Aside from our regular SSS benefits, we also have the pension booster, or what we call the provident fund, where they can also invest. By the time comes that a member retires, aside from claiming their retirement pension, they can also get the earnings from their pension booster or provident fund investments,” Tombo said. PIA DAVAO