The Social Security System (SSS) is prepared to pay unemployment benefits to workers who lost their jobs as a result of the layoffs in, or closures of, private companies hit by the economic fallout from the fast-spreading new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
SSS premium-paying members can avail of unemployment benefits if they are displaced because of redundancy, installation of labor-saving devices, retrenchment, closure or cessation of operation, and disease or illness.
Fernando Nicolas, SSS Public Affairs and Special Events Division head, said the member needs to show a certification from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and a savings account to make the claim.
Stock photo of SSS Office in San Carlos
The unemployment benefit is one of the landmark provisions of the Republic Act (RA) No. 11199 or the Social Security Act of 2018.
“Up to 20,000 o katumbas po ito ng one month salary credit. Halimbawa, ang isang miyembro ay naghuhulog ng para sa P20,000 monthly salary credit, makakakuha po siya ng ganung halaga,” he said in an interview on GMA Network’s Unang Hirit.
(Rough translation: Up to 20,000 or the equivalent of one month salary credit. For example, if a member is paying premiums within the P20,000 monthly salary credit, they can get that amount.)
Nicolas added that the unemployment benefit will be received within five days. The cash aid will be given into two halves in two months.
Nicolas reiterated that members are still qualified to receive the unemployment aid even if they already benefited from other cash assistance programs of the government.
For overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the certification can be obtained from the Philippine Overseas Employment Office (POLO), instead of DOLE.
Meanwhile, self-employed members are not qualified for the said unemployment benefit.
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