By Jocelyn P. Alvarez
ZAMBOANGA CITY - The
Social Security System (SSS)-Zamboanga encourages Overseas Filipino Workers
(OFWs) to make saving a priority for their future needs or to mitigate loss of
income once they come home.
With
the SSS Flexi-fund Program, OFWs are guaranteed to an exclusive safe
investment, risk-free vehicle design primarily for them and their family’s
future. Flexi-Fund allows OFW SSS members to prepare for the future
by encouraging saving while they are employed overseas.
The Flexi Fund, which is an innovation for
OFW’s financial security, is a mechanism where an OFW can save more for the
future by paying an amount aside from the regular monthly SSS premium. It
requires at least P200.00 paid in excess of current maximum salary credit of
P16, 000.00. Entitlements from the fund are added on top of the regular
membership benefits.
The program is tax-free and members
could avail of the fund as early as three years after membership date, or
choose to leave the fund intact until the members retire.
The members may also have the
following options as to the utilization of the fund: avail of the accumulated
balance in the provident fund to meet their financial needs; apply for early
withdrawals to finance housing, education, or capital for business; hold the
fund until retirement age, which can be drawn in the form of monthly pension, or
a lump sum payment or both.
In addition, all OFWs can be members
to the SSS Flexi-fund Program with the following conditions: they were recruited in the Philippines by a
foreign-based employer for employment abroad; having a source of income in a
foreign country; or residing permanently in a foreign country.
A member who has reached 60 years of age is entitled to a retirement benefit, and upon the death of a pensioner, the beneficiary shall receive a lump sum benefit equivalent to the cash value of the remaining pension. Any member can also withdraw his contributions to the fund including interest anytime.
Per data provided by the SSS, registered voluntary member OFWs as of 2014 was 1,028,252 but only an estimated 443,000 or 32.4% are paying SSS premiums and receiving benefits and based on the 2013 Philippine Statistics Authority’s survey, only two of every five OFWs are able to save from their cash remittances, thus the need of the OFWs to save or start saving for their financial security.