“The P20,000 financial assistance from the Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC) for private sector EC pensioners will be e credited to their accounts starting this month of June,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said.
“The one-time financial assistance of ₱20,000 will be released in batches to about 20,000 EC pensioners by the Social Security System (SSS), ECC‘s administering agency for the private sector,” Bello added.
In her report to the DOLE Secretary who is the Chairman of the ECC, ECC Executive Director Stella Zipagan-Banawis said that qualified EC pensioners need not apply for the financial assistance as the SSS will process the financial assistance in the same manner as the processing of their EC pensions. “EC pensioners in the private sector with at least one month of permanent partial disability (PPD), permanent total disability (PTD), or survivorship pension from January 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 will benefit from the one-time financial assistance,” Banawis added.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed Administrative Order No. 39, series of 2021, on April 19, approving the granting of a one-time financial assistance of ₱20,000.00 to EC pensioners in both the public and the private sectors. EC pensioners are persons with permanent partial disability (PPD) or permanent total disability (PTD) because of their work or their working environment. They can also be the beneficiaries of the employees who died due to work-related contingencies.
In case of the death of the eligible EC pensioner during the prescribed period of January 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021, the one-time financial assistance will be released to his or her beneficiary.
“The EC pensioners have suffered work-related disability and the COVID-19 pandemic compounded their vulnerability as they deal with undue financial hardships,” Director Banawis said. “We hope that the one-time financial assistance can ease the financial burdens of our EC pensioners during this trying time. Rest assured that ECC is tirelessly working to provide more assistance to our workers.”
Aside from EC pensioners in the private sector, the one-time financial assistance will also benefit at least 12,000 EC pensioners in the public sector.
D. Lacson – REU3