Good news to all overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)! Those under the age of 60 will automatically become members and beneficiaries of the Social Security Systems (SSS) once President Rodrigo Duterte signs the bill into a law.
The bill now only awaits Duterte’s signatory after the Senate adopted the bicameral committee’s version of the “Social Security Act of 2018” authored by Senator Richard Gordon, Senate President Vicente Sotto III, and Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, among others.
The bill requires SSS coverage for both land-based and sea-based OFWs given that they are under the age of 60. It also tasks the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Labor and Employment as the primary agencies that “would negotiate for the OFWs, especially those working in Middle East countries”.
The said bill also seeks to expand the function of the Philippine embassies in different countries abroad to enable them to collect the contributions of OFWs.
Currently, only 500,000 OFWs are covered by SSS. With the new bill in place, this number is targeted to increase to 2.5 million.
“The bill does not promise an abundance of wealth but to secure people in case they would encounter unwanted situations in their lives, through a lifeline that they themselves created through their contribution,” Gordon said.
RELATED ARTICLE: LIST: Benefits that OFWs can get from SSS
