“Napakalaking tulong ng cash assistance na binigay ng ECC,para makabili ako ng tatlong kambing na inaalagaan namin ngayon,” said Dennis Clare, after receiving P10, 000 from the Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC) on November 12, 2019 during the livelihood seminar at the Regional Extension Unit (REU) – 4A in Halang, Calamba City, Laguna.

Dennis Clare, 32, was on his second month as a restaurant cook when an unfortunate incident happened. On April 28, 2019, he was grinding meat with the grinder machine as part of his usual menu preparation when he accidentally put his right fingers into the machine funnel where its fingertips were instantly hit by the blades. He was rushed and confined to the hospital for 10 days where his half palm was amputated.

After his recovery, Clare’s wife started to look for ways to help him in the financial expenses. Eventually, Clare was called back to work for the same restaurant but this time as a stockman. Though grateful for the effort and initiative of his employer, he thought of ways on how to earn extra money to make both ends meet.

His wife navigated through the Internet and chanced upon the EC Program which gives benefits to the workers like him who met work-related contingencies—in his case accident.

Clare and his wife visited the ECC REU-4A office in CALABARZON on July 4, 2019 hoping to get some help. ECC, after learning Clare’s story, immediately acted on and processed the initial benefit that he could avail. And on November 12, 2019, ECC granted him with P10, 000 cash assistance which Clare and his wife used to start out a Kambingan, a backyard goat-raising.

“After ng na-ifile namin ang cash assistance form, nai-process at naibigay sa ‘kin ang benepisyo. Sa cash assistance nila, nakapag umpisa na agad kami ng negosyo at nakapagpaanak na din ng kambing, “ said Clare.

And with the recent progress in his Kambingan, Clare hopes to avail another component of EC Program like the KaGabay Program, where free entrepreneurial trainings and seminars are given. Clare said, “Itong kambingan na din ang linya ng business na ipo-propose ko para sa EC livelihood ko.”

Executive Director Stella Z. Banawis said, “We would like to emphasize that EC coverage starts on the first day of employment. Any employee who suffered from work-related contingencies may file their EC claims just like what happened with Dennis.”

“Nagpapasalamat ako sa ECC, dahil malaki ang naitutulong nila sa mga tulad namin. Sana madami pa ang makakilala sa inyo at madami pa ang inyong matulungan,” Clare ended.

Reporting by Ruby Ann Fajardo, Information Officer II, REU4A; Editing by Carlo A. Katigbak