This is in reference to Adoracion Elena Alcaraz?s letter, titled ?There?s pain in lost receipts and unrecorded payments,? regarding her contribution payments with the Social Security System.(Inquirer, 8/7/09)

Ms Alcaraz said: ?I was shown my record of payments, but it showed several months? arrears. I questioned the accuracy of the SSS record and told the SSS employee attending to me that I religiously paid my monthly contributions on time. Our exchange attracted the attention of other branch employees and they all asked me to show my RS form receipts for the ?unpaid? months, so that they could make the proper adjustments on my record of payments. Unfortunately, I could no longer present about 120 RS forms.?

SSS records show that Ms Alcaraz has a total of 109 contributions as of June 2009. There is no need for her to submit a hundred receipts. She only needs to present the RS5 forms, which are SSS? payment receipts for self-employed and voluntary members, as proof of payment for the five months that showed gaps in her contribution records.

SSS staff has gone through her records and no payment was reflected in the gaps. But we want to be proven wrong and would be happy if Ms Alcaraz could produce the receipts.

Ms Alcaraz also said that she is old and sick and has not asked SSS for medical help because she has ?no time to apply for it.? She should have applied for sickness benefit, which she is entitled to.

?JOEL P. PALACIOS,
assistant vice president,
Media Affairs Department,
Social Security System,
East Avenue, Diliman,
Quezon City