January 29, 2014 was an ordinary working day for Bryan Anthony Cortes. He went to work and started operating the mixing roll machine in a manufacturing company. However, the ordinary day turned into a nightmare for Cortes when his right thumb was caught by the chain of the machine which caused its amputation.

Since it was a work-related incident, Cortes was able to receive rehabilitation services from ECC which consist of eight physical therapy sessions worth P3,200 and a high definition silicone finger worth P30,000.

Right after he got his free artificial finger from the Employees’ Compensation Commission, his days returned to regular working days once again. Cortes was able to get his old job back as a machine operator.

“The ECC, as a government agency that provides meaningful and appropriate compensation to workers in the event of work-related contingencies, would like to reach out to all the occupationally-disabled workers to help them improve their lives after the work-related incident,” ECC Executive Director Stella Zipagan-Banawis shared.

Banawis added that ECC understands that it is very hard for workers who were injured from work to recover from a particular unfortunate event in their lives. Hence, the ECC continues to initiate programs for the ODWs to help them improve the quality of their lives.