The Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC) built a bridge to a better life for me, said Joel Maglangit.

Maglangit, 47 years old, was one of the beneficiaries of the Employees’ Compensation Commission’s Katulong at Gabay sa Manggagawang may Kapansanan (ECC-KaGabay) Program. He was a former security guard in Makati City.  While on his way to report for work, he met a vehicular accident which resulted to the amputation of his left leg.  Due to his disability, he was forced to resign from employment.

The Employees Compensation Program granted Mr. Maglangit with permanent partial disability (PPD) benefits amounting to four thousand five hundred (P4, 500.00) pesos per month for forty six (46) months.  Aside from the cash income benefit, he underwent twenty four (24) sessions of physical therapy at the Philippine General Hospital through the ECC’s KaGabay Program and he was likewise granted left leg prosthesis.

During one of his therapy sessions, thru the ECC’s intervention, a doctor got interested on his case and offered him a regular job.  Now, Maglangit has been working as a driver at the Philippine Branch Office of The Cambodia Trust, an NGO working for disadvantaged people. The Cambodia Trust also granted scholarship for Maglangit’s two children ages 18 and 17. The Maglangit’s siblings are both taking up Bachelor of   Science in Prosthetics and Orthotics at the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Medical Center.

Now, I have a much better life compared to my life as a security guard.  This was mainly because of the Employees’ Compensation Commission,   Maglangit added in a vernacular.

The ECC’s KaGabay Program ensures that occupationally disabled workers are put back to their pre-injury conditions, which make them continue to work and a productive member of society once again.