Through the intensified information dissemination of Employees’ Compensation Program (ECP) to the members of Philippine National Police (PNP) in Region 10, a police officer who was wounded in the line of duty was able to claim and receive his EC benefits amounting to P113,044.85.
Police Officer I Marlon Mendoza has been with the Regional Public Safety Battalion-10 (RPSB-10) for three years. On April 2013, when he was still a Field Officer, their troop conducted a combat patrol in Talakag, Bukidnon when a group of 30-40 armed men attacked them. The exchange of gunfire lasted for almost two hours. The incident left Mendoza with an injured right leg. Due to bacterial infection, his right leg was amputated in May of the same year.
He was able to go back to work but since he was no longer able to perform his usual tasks, he was transferred to a police station as a desk officer.
On January 2014, the Employees’ Compensation Commission Regional Extension Unit 10 staff conducted an ECP lecture to the members of RPSB-10. This is when Mendoza sought the assistance of ECC-REU 10 in filing for his EC claim at the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
Though the processing of his EC claim took time, he was able to receive his EC benefits on December 2014 amounting to P113,044.85, accounting for his temporary total disability benefits and medical reimbursements. Aside from this, he also qualified as a beneficiary of the Katulong at Gabay sa Manggagawang May Kapansanan (KaGabay) Program. Under the program, he underwent free physical therapy for five months in Northern Mindanao Medical Center, worth P3,000.
As part of the celebration of its 40TH Anniversary on March of this year, the ECC has entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the PNP, formalizing areas of collaboration on information dissemination on the ECP for uniformed personnel of the PNP.
“The uniformed personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), including the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), are covered under the ECP despite their exclusion from the coverage of GSIS,” ECC Executive Director Stella Zipagan-Banawis explained.
“This case shows that uniformed personnel and their beneficiaries should not hesitate to file EC claims at the GSIS in the event of work-related injuries, illness, disability, or death even though they are not members of the GSIS,” Banawis added.
End
With reports from Stella D. Obice, Information Officer II, ECC-REU 10
