LEGAZPI CITY – The parents of the PNP Special Action Force Trooper Max Jim Ramirez Tria, one of the fallen SAF 44 troopers, have been awarded P20,000 as funeral benefit.

Guillermo Tria, 54, and Epigenia, 53, of Virac, Catanduanes, received the employees’ compensation benefits because their son was among the police commandos killed in clashes with the Muslim rebels at Mamasapano, Maguindanao last 25 January 2015.

The Employees’ Compensation Commission Regional Extension Unit V (ECC-REU5), together with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Region 5, searched for Senior Inspector Tria’s beneficiaries following an instruction from Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz.

Baldoz ordered the ECC Regional Extension Units, through ECC Executive Director Stella Zipagan-Banawis, to coordinate with the families of the 44 police commandos and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) branches in their areas.

GSIS Branch Manager Joel Defeo informed ECC-REU5 that upon learning of the Mamasapano clash, they have proactively located the beneficiaries of Tria.

ECC-REU5 and GSIS have personally awarded the initial funeral benefit check to Tria’s parents at the GSIS branch in Virac.

Earlier last week, the ECC Board has signed a resolution directing GSIS to immediately release the disability benefits of the wounded SAF troopers and initial death benefits to the beneficiaries of the fallen 44 SAF troopers.

Baldoz, who heads the ECC Board, expressed that this monetary relief can never equal the gallantry and dedication to service of the PNP SAF Troopers in the Mamasapano Incident.

The ECC is a government-owned and controlled corporation mandated by Presidential Decree No. 626, as amended, otherwise known as the Employees’ Compensation and State Insurance Fund of the Labor Code of the Philippines, to provide meaningful and appropriate compensation to workers and/or their beneficiaries who met work-related sickness, injuries or death.

Uniformed personnel of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and Bureau of Fire Protection are still covered by the ECC notwithstanding their exclusion from the coverage of Republic Act No. 8291, otherwise known as the GSIS Law.