SSS sees profit breaching P100B as it aims to grow membership

THE SOCIAL Security System (SSS) expects its net income to surpass the P100-billion mark this year as it targets to increase its membership and ramp up its collection efforts.

“Definitely, we’ll reach the P100-billion mark in net income for 2025. We estimate that in terms of percentage growth of net income, it will range from about 38% to 43% year on year,” SSS President and Chief Execu-tive Officer Joseph M. De Claro said at a press briefing on Thursday.

SSS posted a P1.13-trillion net loss in 2024, according to its financial statement posted on its website, wider than the P444.13-billion loss in 2023. However, before changes in policy reserves, it booked a net in-come of P90.25 billion last year, up from P83.13 billion in 2023.

In the first six months of 2025, SSS’ net income before the increase in policy reserves was at P67.42 billion, up by 51.4% from P44.53 billion in the same period last year.

Mr. De Claro said the agency’s profit growth will be driven by its collection efforts, especially in sectors with high delinquency rates like the construction industry.

“We need to have our program be successful in terms of generating additional collection to meet this. So, we’re actually setting the bar a bit higher for next year,” he said.

The agency also targets expand its overseas Filipino worker (OFW) membership in collaboration with the Department of Migrant Workers and other related agencies.

“Today, I think there’s more than 2.5 million registered OFWs outside the Philippines, and we have only about a million members registered with the SSS,” he said. “What I can tell you is that we realized that Filipinos living in Ri-yadh are different from ones living in Singapore or the US. And we need to make sure that the social security adapts to the needs of our Filipino members living outside the Philippines.”

The state pension fund also targets to increase membership among those in the gig economy, informal sector workers, and government employees that are not covered by the Government Service Insurance System. It also wants to educate self-employed individuals about the importance of social security.

“So, our drivers for net income this year would be, from a membership perspective, the continuous drive to generate additional members. We’ll work with better collection, making sure that we are more strict,” Mr. De Claro said.

For 2026, SSS targets to grow its earnings by at least 8% year on year, he said.

The agency will also focus on digital transformation to improve service delivery and collaborate with other institutions to boost social protection.

It is likewise working to reinstate the stock investment loan program and is set to launch a micro-loan facility in partnership with Union Bank of the Philippines, Inc.

INVESTMENT INCOME
Meanwhile, Social Security Commissioner Victor Alfonso A. Limlingan said the agency wants to hike its equity holdings to boost its investment income while lowering the overall risk profile of their portfolio.

“I believe we have roughly about P100 billion [invested] in equities at the moment, and that’s certainly a number that can increase,” he said.

Mr. Limlingan said they expect SSS’ investment income to continue rising even as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ easing cycle could affect yields.

“As a pension fund and given that we are a young population, the duration of our liability is very long. Because of that, we invest for the long term. So, while it’s not an alarming or imminent threat to our income, precisely because we have many hold-to-maturity securities, it will still have an impact when these securities mature,” he said. “As you know, we are constantly getting more contributions, and that will be invested at, unfortunately, lower rates. So, there will be an impact, but not as material as it seems on paper.”

About 55% of the SSS’ investments are in long-term government securities, equivalent to about P500 billion, he said.

“Our current investment income is still growing. I think last year we were at about P50 [billion] to P52 billion in income from investment. This year,… give or take, we’ll be reaching a little more than P50 billion from invest-ments.”

The state pension fund is also looking to diversify its offshore investments to add to their dollar-denominated assets due to uncertainties about the US’ economic prospects, Mr. Limlingan said.

“Investment teams are looking at finding the right markets and the right geographies that are not directly correlated with our own market. It will give us the best diversification benefit. It’s a very well-thought-out strategy.” — A.M.C. Sy