Job Order (JO) employees of the National Tobacco Administration will be entitled with social security coverage with the signing of Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the NTA and the Social Security System (SSS) on March 7 at the NTA Central Office in Quezon City.
NTA Administrator/CEO Robert Victor G. Seares Jr. and Mario R. Sibucao, Senior Vice President of SSS Account Management Group signed the MOA, witnessed by Administrative Department Officer-in-Charge Perla C. Manzon and Finance Manager Ma. Teresa B. Laudencia for NTA, and Carlo C. Villacorta, Department Manager III and Mary Carousel M. Ansay, Junior Specialist for SSS.
Under the MOA, 268 JO employees, as of March 2022, from the Central and Branch Offices will be classified as self-employed members of SSS, and can avail of benefits in times of contingencies, such as sickness, maternity, retirement, disability, and death. They shall also become eligible to various loan programs of SSS. NTA will assist the employees to register or enroll at SSS and in ensuring the prompt remittance of their SSS contributions.
Administrator Seares thanked SSS for the opportunity to provide social security protection to fellow workers in the government. “The NTA Management will continue to seek for additional ways to better provide an avenue for the social security of our workforce because this is a basic necessity, especially in these challenging times,” he added.
Government contract of service and JO employees are not covered by the Government Service Insurance System due to their employment status.
Also under the MOA, regular or permanent employees who are existing SSS members by virtue of private employment or self-employment may also opt to continue paying contributions as Voluntary members, to which SSS has already agreed to extend assistance for the remittance of their preferred monthly SSS contributions.
Prior to the MOA signing, the JO employees attended a free seminar on the Self-Employed Coverage Program of the Social Security System (SSS) for Government Job Order and Contract of Service Personnel under a Salary Deduction Scheme, held via Microsoft Teams on March 2.
[Text and photo: Melanie Rapiz-Parel]