Philippines to make social security for overseas Filipinos mandatory

DUBAI: Contributions to the Philippines’ state-run pension fund is soon to be mandatory for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), local media reported.

The government has approved a new law to repeal the 21-year-old Social Security Law, extending compulsory coverage of the Social Security System (SSS) to OFWs under the age of 60.

The new policy also introduces a progressive increase in monthly contributions to 15 percent from the current 11 percent by 2025.

In the current system, OFWs are not obligated to pay contributions to the SSS, which all private employees in the Philippines contribute to regularly.

“Right now, despite the huge number of OFWs – some say there are some 10 million of them at present – we only cover some 550,000 of them. So this law will mandatorily cover all the OFWs to ensure their social security protection,” SSS President Emmanuel Dooc said.

The new legislation is seen to increase OFW membership to the SSS to 2.5 million, according to a Philippine senator.

A local official ensured the cooperation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Labor and Employment, who are tasked to “negotiate for the OFWs, especially those working in Middle East countries while enhancing the functions of the Philippine embassies therein to enable them to collect the SSS contributions.”