My Father files for Retirement

My father turns 60 this week. It's one milestone that I would like to share.

Like many who retire at this age, one of the things that he did was to file for retirement benefits at SSS.

My father worked for a garment factory owned by a fil-chinese for 30 years (i guess he deserved a few loyalty awards for this). That factory closed down last 2002 but his contributions were enough to qualify him for pension benefits. From what we were told, you need a minimum of 240 months of contributions to get pension. He clearly hod more than that.

So yesterday, off we went to the SSS office in Tagaytay to submit his requriements. Got in early at #1. Manong, the guard, gave us a few tips to go through it quickly. And yep, in less than 30 minutes after office started at 8am, we were already on our way home. There was no queue in this branch, unlike in other branches where we've heard of horror stories of lines a mile long.

The submission of requirements is the first part --- the easy part. Who knows about the follow-up. For that part, we have heard mixed stories. Let see how ours go.

So for those who, like my father, are retiring. Here are some helpful tips:

1. Go to the branch early to make sure you get in front of the line.
2. Have your requirements ready. For my dad, since he didn't have any qualified dependent (a child or children less than 21 years old), the requirements are quite few:
- Certificate of Employment
- Authenticated NSO Birth Certificate
- His SSS ID
- A completely-filled-up SSS Disability, Retirement claim form.

Have photocopies of the above requirements before you go to the branch.

And oh, make sure that you have a Savings Account from any commercial bank that SSS can deposit your pension funds to. SSS no longer gives out pension checks (I think). They just deposit it to your local commercial bank --- a great convenience.