The people manning the “little office” of the Social Security System (SSS) in Toronto deserve to be commended for their dedication and hard work in serving the growing number of Pinoy seniors and the caregivers in the community.
When I was there two months ago, I saw a long line of seniors and caregivers, standing for hours, waiting for their turns to be serviced. It was heart-rending to see an elderly in a wheel-chair or those with canes standing, not a single chair was there to make their waiting more comfortable.
The main reason why these elderlies came there was because they have to be personally seen by the SSS people as proof that they are still alive, entitling them for the continuance of their pension.
Adding to the problem is that although they were already lining up, those who had booked for an appointment were allowed to jump the line and be processed by the two women staff members of the office.
I learned from some people there that they decided to go there, without securing an appointment because the office’s phone was always busy.
With these two staff members busily working, I saw one staff had to make copies of some of these elderly’s ID and some documents, and she had to go to another floor to do this task. What the other staff was to interview their clients.
Some of the people who came late, almost lunch time, they had to be told “Please, balik na lang kayo, Kain muna kami”.
One caregiver I talked to, told me, she went to that SSS office to “put more to her SSS contributions although she has not retired yet, to get more in her pension”.
Well, the two staff members were doing their best, but the number of pensioners coming there was simply overwhelming.
I’m not faulting the SSS people in Toronto, one way to ease the burden of these people, pensioners based abroad should avail themselves of the SSS option of its virtual conferencing to process their pensions; they don’t have to come to the SSS offices simply to show “proof of life”
A few years ago, I had this experience, seeing how the SSS representative stationed at the consulate office in Toronto did his job well, giving his all in serving the Filipino community.
One morning in January, I travelled from Scarborough to the SSS office near the Eglinton subway station. The long stretch of road would typically take me there in a matter of 30 minutes. But it took me quite a while to get to the consulate because of the ongoing streetcar construction along Eglinton Ave.
When I reached the place, I saw a couple talking to Mr. Roberto Roldan, so I had to wait outside his office. A few minutes later, the couple left, and I entered the office. On learning that I had no appointment with him, he told me he could not entertain me without affecting the rest of the clients who had booked an appointment.
He told me that instead, I should avail myself of the SSS virtual conferencing to process my SSS business. But I told him I wanted the consulate to process my SSS requirement.
I told him he could entertain me since not anyone was there for his appointment, and I was the only one inside his office. Maybe, thinking that was the only right thing to do to entertain me, he gave me a new sheet of SSS paper to fill up and directed me to Xerox my passport and Canadian ID card.
But why would I commend him?
Well, I observed him busily entertaining people who were either calling or talking to people who had appointments with him. I could hear him, saying,” Ma’am, so sorry, and please stay on the line. I’m talking to another one, “Oh, Ma’am, why don’t you avail yourself of the SSS virtual conferencing? It’s faster, talk to them, or you can send a letter, fill up the forms, show the current newspapers with their date on it, as proof of life.”
While he was talking over the phone, he was at the same time handling SSS forms to other clients who were inside his office.
“Ma’am please use the SSS virtual because it’s the best way to process your application. Ma’am please bear with me, I’m the only one here in the office,” Roldan says.
With this experience, the consulate should use the community papers to let our fellow citizens here in Toronto know the best way to process their SSS application for renewal. Or how to avail themselves of the SSS virtual conferencing instead of going to the consulate to process their SSS papers.
It’s hard for a handful of people at the SSS office to do all these things; the sheer volume of work is quite overwhelming.
