The 217 barangay workers of the 21 villages in San Quintin town, Pangasinan, can now avail of the benefits from the Social Security System (SSS) as the municipal government subsidizes their contributions.
SSS Urdaneta branch head Christopher Servas, in a phone interview on Tuesday, said the figure, composed of barangay health workers and barangay peacekeeping action team members, is just the initial number of enrollees, as the local government also plans to include members of civilian volunteer organizations in the program.
“All benefits they can avail like those of the employed SSS members since they are covered as self employed under the SSS Contribution Subsidy (Provider) Program (CSSP) as barangay workers but fully subsidized by the local government unit (LGU),” he said.
SSS membership provides various benefits and financial protection, including sickness (daily cash for inability to work due to illness), maternity (for childbirth or miscarriage), disability (pension or lump sum for permanent disability), retirement (monthly pension or lump sum for reaching age of retirement), unemployment (for involuntary job separation), death (pension or lump sum for beneficiaries), and funeral (for burial expenses of a deceased member) benefits.
Members can also access loans for various purposes like salary, housing, and business, among others.
San Quintin town, the first LGU in the province to adopt the program, subsidizes the PHP760 monthly contribution of each enrollee.
Servas said they are campaigning for the SSS-CSSP among local government units for the barangay workers whose honoraria are meager, as well as the indigent farmers in the fifth and sixth districts of Pangasinan.
“Hope this will be a stimulus for other LGUs not only in the fifth and sixth districts of Pangasinan but the entire province to dedicate public funds for this purpose because such will have a transcendental effect not only on the lives of the barangay workers but as well as their families or beneficiaries,” he said.
SSS Urdaneta branch will be making rounds again in the LGUs under their jurisdiction for the SSS- CSSP.
“This is for nation building and poverty alleviation,” Servas said. (PNA)
