Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, who also chairs the Social Security Commission (SSC), has directed the Social Security System (SSS) to implement a pension increase and issue new benefit cards.
“These programs are proof of true public service: Not additional hassle, but additional comfort. Not an old system, but modern solutions. Not a slow process, but quick action,” Recto said.
The SSS is rolling out the Pension Reform of 2025, a three-year annual pension increase program. This follows President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s commitment to protect Filipino workers. The program was announced last month and approved by the SSS Board, chaired by Recto.
Retirement and disability pensioners will receive a 10-percent annual increase, while death or survivor pensioners will get a 5-percent raise. The annual increases will continue every September until 2027.
The SSS also launched the MySSS Card, which will help members receive their newly increased pension benefits faster. The new card replaces the Unified Multi-Purpose Identification (UMID) card as the SSS official ID.
“Just one swipe, and you’ll get many benefits. Using this, SSS members can directly and quickly access their benefits, loans, and pensions,” Recto said.
“You can also use it for shopping, paying for transportation, and for everyday expenses,” he said.
The MySSS Card is equipped with an EMV (Europay, Mastercard, and Visa) chip and uses the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) eVerify and biometrics authentication to check members’ identities.
It will be issued through partner banks like RCBC, AUB, China Bank, and UnionBank. This allows the card to serve as a bank account for benefits and a loan disbursement channel. It can also be used for in-store or online payments.
All SSS members, pensioners, beneficiaries, claimants and representative payees with an active social security number, a My.SSS Portal account with updated contact information, and who are registered with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) or PhilSys, are eligible to apply for the MySSS Card.
Recto also announced the upcoming launch of the Alagang SSS Discount Card, a health and wellness initiative for SSS members aged 60 and above. In partnership with Unilab Inc., the card will provide discounts on Unilab products at Watsons, Southstar and Mercury Drugstores nationwide.
“We are doing all this to ensure that every Filipino worker has more joy and more comfort,” Recto said.
“Because as our President said, you deserve nothing but our love, our care, and our protection,” he said.
