MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte has appointed a former mining executive to oversee state-run Social Security System (SSS), giving him the task to expand the resources of the provident fund.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III yesterday confirmed that the President promoted SSS Commissioner Michael Regino to president and CEO of the state-owned firm.?
According to Dominguez, Duterte expects Regino to institute measures that will enhance the services of SSS and look for ways to enlarge the reserves of the provident fund.
“He was sworn in (on Tuesday). He is expected to continue improving the service quality to all SSS members, as well as invest their funds to assure long-term growth,” Dominguez said.
He denied that the President fired former SSS president and CEO Aurora Ignacio from her post a week after the agency faced piles of complaints from members and pensioners.
Last week, hundreds of people camped outside the SSS main branch in Quezon City to submit their documents in person, raising concerns on whether minimum health standards were followed.
Prior to becoming SSS chief, Regino served the provident fund as commissioner representing the labor sector.
Regino also was chairman of the information technology and collection committee and member of the risk management and investment committee.
Before he entered government, Regino spent his career working as an executive for mostly mining firms like Agata Ventures Inc., Exploration Drilling Corp., St. Augustine Gold and Copper Ltd. and TVI Resources Development Inc.
At present, Regino sits on the board of directors of Nationwide Development Corp. He also has a similar role in Kingking Mining Corp., where he supervises the Davao operations.
Regino completed his economics degree at Ateneo de Zamboanga, where he graduated cum laude and salutatorian in 1985. He obtained his Master’s in Business Administration from Ateneo de Manila University.
As SSS chief, Regino will try to grow a provident fund that saw a 60 percent rise in reserves in the past six years to P697.63 billion in 2021 from P435.52 billion in 2015.