Marylou Chin
KOTA KINABALU: Filipinos wanting to be bona fide members of the Philippines Government’s Social Security System, Pag-Ibig Fund (housing loan insurance) and Philippines Health Insurance (medical and hospitalization benefits) can now apply here, thanks to the initiative of EM Enterprise, a locally registered recruitment service provider.
In the Philippines, the government has made it compulsory for employers to ensure all workers are members of SSS, Pag-ibig and Philhealth for personal protection.
EM Enterprise proprietor Marilou Chin said her agency opened a counter at the Centre Point shopping mall here last Sunday to assist Filipinos in Sabah apply for the government’s benefits.
“We opened our payment collection counter at the third floor in Centre Point primarily to assist Filipinos in the application procedures and payment,” she said.
According to her, the decision to create a processing and payment counter was designed to provide opportunity for applicants to register membership even during Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
“We noticed that some Filipinos find difficulties to register themselves during weekdays because of their work schedules and prefer to do so on a Saturday or Sunday. EM Enterprise is the duly appointed agent of SSS, Pag-ibig and Philhealth in Sabah,” she stressed.
The lady boss said the payment counter is open daily from Monday to Sunday, including non-working days from 8am to 5.30pm.
“We experienced a huge crowd last Sunday and we forecast that similar scenario will be seen every weekend,” she said, adding that applicants are required to bring along with them identification card (ID) like passport, Philippines TIN card, birth certificate amongst others to show proof of the identity of the applicant and its beneficiaries.
Touching briefly on the benefits for members, Marilou said an active SSS cardholder is entitled for saving compensation upon reaching the retirement age limit and at the same time will be privileged to apply for personal loans and other personal benefits amongst others.
Housing loan (Philippines location) is guaranteed to every bona fide member of Pag-ibig and a certain percentage of refundable medical and hospitalization bills (varies on the kind of illness) are provided to all Philhealth cardholders, she added.
On the membership fees, Marilou said the minimum monthly contribution for SSS is 500 pesos per while the maximum contribution is 1,760 pesos (depending on salary bracket of applicant). Contributions can be paid either monthly, quarterly or yearly.
For Pag-ibig, she said there is no fixed ceiling of comtribution while the required membership fee for Philhealth is 2,400 pesos annually.
“Applicants are required to pay RM15 per transaction for service fee when applying for services,” she said.