MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos in Spain will gain stronger protection and easier access
to social security benefits as the Philippines and Spain move to strengthen
their longstanding partnership and restore SSS services in Madrid.
Philippine Ambassador to Spain Philippe
J. Lhuillier recently met with Social Security System (SSS) President and Chief
Executive Officer Robert Joseph M. De Claro to discuss measures to improve
social security services for Filipinos in Spain. The meeting comes ahead of the
planned reopening of the SSS Representative Office at the Philippine Embassy in
Madrid in September.
Ambassador Lhuillier welcomed progress
toward concluding and signing the Administrative Agreement implementing the
Convention on Social Security between the Philippines and Spain. The framework
will establish clearer procedures for totalizing insurance periods, ensuring
equal treatment, exporting benefits, and avoiding double social security
contributions.
“Strengthening our social security
partnership with Spain is an important step in ensuring that the rights and
benefits of our kababayans are protected and accessible, wherever their work
and lives may take them,” Ambassador Lhuillier said. “We value our longstanding
cooperation with Spain and look forward to working closely with our Spanish
counterparts and the SSS to further strengthen the systems that support the
Filipino community.”
Under the arrangement, eligible workers
who have contributed to both countries’ systems may combine their insurance
periods to qualify for certain benefits. Qualified beneficiaries may receive
benefits regardless of where they reside, while temporarily assigned workers
may avoid duplicate contributions.
The framework also aims to streamline
claims processing, information exchange, and coordination between Philippine
and Spanish institutions, while reducing documentary requirements and
administrative back-and-forth.
The effort will be reinforced by the
reopening of the SSS Representative Office at the Philippine Embassy in Madrid,
scheduled for inauguration on September 11, 2026. Located at the Embassy’s Eric
P. Valenzuela Consular Hall, the office will provide Filipinos with a local
venue for SSS concerns and transactions. Mary Jessielyn C. Sia, formerly an SSS
Foreign Representative in Milan, will serve the Madrid community.
The Philippines and Spain have maintained
a social security arrangement since 1988, with an updated convention signed in
2002 and entering into force in 2012. The forthcoming Administrative Agreement
takes this partnership a step further—turning a decades-old commitment into
more accessible, responsive support for Filipinos building their lives and
livelihoods between the two countries.