The Employees’ Compensation Commission recently hired new employees to man its regional extension units (REUs) in Regions 1 and 6 in response to the call of Labor and Employment Secretary and Chair of the ECC, Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz to bring ECC Programs and services closer to the regions.

The new REUs are located at the DOLE Regional offices in La Union (Region 1)  in Region 6 (Iloilo City)

The REUs are auxiliary offices of the ECC for the information dissemination of the EC Program in different provinces and cities to ensure that the workers are informed of their rights, benefits and privileges under the EC Program.

ECC Executive Director Stella Zipagan-Banawis said that the workers need to be aware of the benefits they could get from the ECC and we want them to provide easy access with the EC Programs.

ECC REUs also provide assistance through its Quick Response Program and Katulong at Gabay sa Manggagawang may Kapansanan (KaGabay) under the Rehabilitation Services of the employees’ compensation program

Relative to EC appealed cases, the REU staff is authorized to accept from the claimants letters of appeal and/or records of EC claims which were denied at the branch of the concerned systems (GSIS/SSS) in the region and to transmit the same to their main offices for review purposes.

The ECC launched its first ever REU in 2011 in Region 10-Cagayan de Oro City. It was followed by four additional REUs in 2012 at Region 7-Cebu City; Region 9-Zamboanga City; Region 12-Koronadal City and Cordillera Administrative Region-Baguio City.

In September 2013, the ECC established six REUs: Region 2-Tuguegarao City; Region 3-Pampanga; Region 5-Legazpi City; Region 8-Tacloban City; Region 11-Davao City; and Region 13-butuan City.

“Plans to open an extension office in Region 4-B in Mindoro are also in the pipeline,” added Banawis.

ECC-REUs are located in all DOLE Regional offices.