The month of December is full of blessings and this includes the pension for our beloved senior citizens. This December, the Social Security System (SSS) released pensions to over 3.6 million Filipino pensioners. The total amount of payout is said to be 32 billion pesos.
This payout has been released by batch by the SSS. In the first batch, the pensions were distributed to over 2.09 million pensioners. It is worth 17 billion pesos and was released on November 29, 2024. This covers pensioners with the contingency date within the first 15th day of the month.
For the second batch, it was released to 1.52 million pensioners. The total payout amounted to 14.3 billion pesos. Included in this batch are pensioners with contingency dates from the 16th to the last day of the month.
SSS 13th Month
This December, SSS also released the 13th-month pay of over 6,000 pensioners. The total payout for this is around 41.6 million pesos. Pensioners get their payout through non-PESONet participating banks and checks.
“Pensioners in non-PESONet participating banks got their pensions on December 4, meanwhile we have asked the Philippine Postal Corporation to expedite the delivery of the checks of our pensioners in their home address,” as stated by SSS Executive Vice President Atty. Voltaire Agas.
For the pensioners who availed advance 18-month pension for their first payout, they received their 13th month last December 4.
Reasons For Early Pension Release
As stated by SSS Executive VP Atty. Agas, they have gone through early crediting of the 13th month and December pensions as an early Christmas gift to SSS and EC pensioners.
In addition, it is also helpful since SSS was aware of the effect of recent tropical cyclones on its pensioner. As said by Atty. Agas:
“We are also aware of the plight of our pensioners who were not spared by the recent tropical cyclones that lashed the country in less than a month. The early crediting of these pensions can help address some of their financial needs as they try to rebuild their lives after a series of calamities struck the country.”
Conclusion
SSS has been issuing 13-month pensions to SSS and EC pensioners ever since December 1988. The 13-month pay is almost equal to the respective monthly pensions.
Retirement and survivor pensioners get a 13th-month pension equivalent to their regular monthly pensions, while total disability pensioners receive a 13th-month pension equal to their monthly pensions without the medical allowance.
Retirement and survivor pensioners receive a 13th-month pension equivalent to their regular monthly pension, whereas total disability pensioners are granted a 13th-month pension equal to their monthly pension, excluding the medical allowance.
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