Nightmare at the SSS

Late last year my father passed away. I hurriedly came from overseas to pay my last respects, and also to comfort my mother. After the burial I decided to help my mother sort out her death and funeral benefit claims with the Social Security System (SSS).

When I arrived, I could not help but notice infrastructure developments. I am astounded however with the bureaucracy, which has become backwards and saddled with inefficiency, incompetence and disorganization.

This is exemplified by the Members’ Assistance Center (MAC) of the SSS, located on Visayas Ave. in Quezon City. Members go there to conduct business in the hope of getting quality and prompt service. Why not? These people have toiled hard and contributed a portion of their earnings to the SSS to ensure their security in times of need. The SSS has become what it is now – a huge source of government revenue as a result of its members’ contributions.

The MAC is designed to be a one-stop shop for processing papers, from all types of claims to salary loan applications. But in the huge center, you will see many SSS officers who have no appreciation of the word "customer service," or "government service." There are no orderly processes in the Center; there are signs but no flow instructions. The information booths are hopeless. Any first-timer will surely get confused and overwhelmed. The sound system is so weak you can barely understand what is being said.

Those in the thousands who come everyday to the MAC have all their share of bad experiences. Many don’t bother to complain since nothing, they reckon, will come out of it. If you are extremely lucky, you can finish your transaction at the MAC in a day, but the norm here really is for you to finish your transaction in 2-4 days. The snail-paced processing is not at all due to the members’ fault but rather to the poor administration of the MAC. I myself can testify to its poor and substandard service.

On Jan. 7, 2007, my mother and I went to the MAC to file her claims for death and funeral benefits. At about 12 noon, and after queuing up for more than an hour at the Verification Counter 27, the attending Officer put up a sign showing that the computer system has gone "off-line." She said in a soft voice they were closing down. There was no explanation given on the downtime, or any apology to the people who had lined up for an hour. The officer couldn’t care less and besides it was ‘lunch" break. Don’t worry about the poor people, they can leave or wait. My mother opted to return the next day.

The next day, Jan. 8, we arrived at the MAC at 9 a.m. The queue was already long. At the Pre-Screening Counter, we were told our requirements for the death benefit claims were incomplete. I thought the checklist for requirements on the form was written vaguely, hence the confusion. We have no choice but to comply with the requirements for submission the next day.

As for our other claim, the Funeral Benefit, we were issued with a ticket number so my mother can be assigned to an Administrative Officer (AO) for interview. We waited attentively for our number to be called. After more than an hour, when the number showing on the screen had overtaken our number. I quickly went to one of the AOs to enquire why our number was not called out. We were 100 percent sure our number was skipped. I pleaded with two of the AOs to attend to my mother. They both ignored my plea, as if we were idiots. They reluctantly pointed us to find a counter "over there" where someone "may be" willing to attend to us. I asked them repeatedly to assign me a counter where we could wait. None of them would utter a reply, except that I overheard one of them saying callously you’ve just missed your turn for not listening.

In all honesty, they did not have a microphone and the electronic counter numbers were broken except for two. And besides how do you expect everyone to hear the numbers amid the chaos in the center? These officers call out the numbers orally in the faintest sound possible. If you miss the call, you’re gone.

I raised my voice out of frustration at the finger-pointing exercise. One officer finally took us in but not after the supervisor interjected and loudly castigated me for being unreasonable. Instead of calming an upset customer, she gave me a dirty look and asked me to leave. Of course, I did not leave my mother; as far as I am concerned I need to be with her, having lost a husband. How on earth can these people be so insensitive?

When our papers were sorted, my mother was asked to line up at Counter 27 to obtain a check number, prior to being issued the Funeral Benefit check. Again, we queued for an hour. By 12 noon, the officer on Counter 27 again took out a sign and placed it in front with the words computer "Off Line."

Again, no explanation, no apology whatsoever. For two consecutive days and more or less same time, the system went "off-line." I overheard one irate customer saying, "mga tamad lang kayo." These officers were treating ordinary people as if they were a bunch of nobodies. Surely, something could be done much less when a system goes down successively for two days. But they wouldn’t bother, it’s "lunch" break.

Not content, my mother asked the officer if there was any other way of getting the information she was after. The officer replied impolitely, "eh paano ko ibibigay yan eh down nga ang system." I felt sickened how my mother was treated with disrespect.

My mother tried her luck with the Officer nearby, who then showed my mother her check number details, as they were already actually printed out. If not for my mother’s persistence she would have had to come back again for the information. As for the other people in the line, they left in despair. Many of these people, old and uneducated, just take whatever these officers tell them.

On Jan. 9, we arrived at the MAC at about 9 a.m. Despite missing only one (1) requirement for her claim for Death Benefit, my mother had to queue up again for hours. When her turn finally came at the Pre-Screening Counter she was told no more tickets were being issued. There are only 120 tickets being issued for the day, and in fact everyday. My mother being probably the number 121st customer would have to come back and queue up again the following day. The officer said each of the six AOs is allotted only 20 people everyday to interview. The officer told my mother, "tingnan ninyo na lang kung makakuha kayo ng number diyan, para makasingit." I do not understand what she meant but it surely was one way of telling us to come back next day.

On Jan. 10, we arrived at the MAC as early as 7 a.m. My mother lined up again to submit her missing document. She was finally issued with a ticket number, and after three hours of waiting was finally interviewed by an SSS officer, ending her Calvary to SSS.

There is an urgent need to review the services at the SSS MACS. It seems the only recourse is to purge many of the deadwoods and replace them with dynamic workforce dedicated to continual service improvements in an agency supposedly an epitome of public service. – RAUL A. ZAMUCO, Quezon City, raulmacario_zamuco@yahoo.com