SSS unemploymentbenefits hit P178 million

MANILA, Philippines — State-run Social Security System (SSS) has released P178 million in unemployment benefits to members who were involuntarily separated from their work in 2019, a top official said yesterday.

In a statement, SSS president and chief executive officer Aurora Ignacio said the pension fund received 15,151 unemployment benefit applications since the involuntary separation insurance program was implemented in August 2019.

Of the figure, 14,895 were approved, which translated to P178 million in benefit releases, she said.

Republic Act 11199 or the Social Security Act of 2018 mandated SSS to provide unemployment benefits to members who were involuntarily separated from their place of employment.

Implemented starting August 2019, the program provides separated SSS members cash benefits equivalent to half of their average monthly salary credit for a maximum of two months.

“The program was patterned after the unemployment benefit program in European countries. Our primary objective is to assist them while they are looking for another job after they were involuntarily separated from their work. They may also use the benefit for their retooling and capacity building to find a better job or work that will suit their skills, ” Ignacio said.

To qualify for the program, the SSS said members must not be more than 60 years old at the time of involuntary separation, except for underground and surface mine workers, and racehorse jockeys whose age should not be more than 50 and 55 years old, respectively.

Applicants must have paid at least 36 monthly contributions, 12 months of which should be within the 18-month period immediately preceding the month of involuntary separation.

Ignacio said the involuntary separation must be due to the installation of labor-saving devices, redundancy, retrenchment, closure or cessation of operation, and disease or illness of the employee whose continued employment is prohibited by law or is prejudicial to his or his co-employees’ health.

Separation due to employee’s serious misconduct, willful disobedience to lawful orders, gross and habitual neglect of duties, fraud or willful breach of trust, commission of a crime or offense, and analogous cases like abandonment, gross inefficiency, and disloyalty or conflict of interest are not covered under the unemployment benefit program.