SSS job loss insurance payouts reach P2.62 billion

MANILA, Philippines — The Social Security System (SSS) has released P2.62 billion in unemployment insurance benefits (UIB) to at least 196,000 members who lost their jobs during the pandemic.

In a letter to the Senate, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said nearly 90 percent or P2.35 billion of the UIB were granted to 173,791 members from March 2020 to June 2021.

He said the UIB program has provided cash benefits to 196,021 members who lost their jobs since the program’s inception in March 2019. However, he stressed much of the UIBs were distributed during the pandemic.

Under the law, the SSS is mandated to extend UIBs to members who were separated from their jobs due to authorized cases of terminations such as redundancy, downsizing or closure. The cash assistance may also be given in the event the worker was removed due to economic downturn.

Similarly, UIBs are distributed to SSS members who lost their jobs as the employer had to shut the business due to a natural calamity or man-made disaster.

In computing the UIB, the member could get as much as half of his/her average monthly salary credit (AMSC), for a maximum of two months.

Dominguez said an SSS member with an AMSC of P16,000 may receive a two-month UIB worth P16,000, as well compounding the P8,000 monthly that he/she may obtain.

SSS members applying for the UIB should have remitted at least 36 months of contributions and must not be over 60 years of age. Likewise, they can only claim UIB once in every three years.

Last week SSS officials told reporters that the social pension fund is recovering from its losses in 2020 as members raise their contributions to 13 percent monthly as required by law. The agency collected P159.75 billion worth of premiums as of the first week of September, exceeding by 16.94 percent the P136.6 billion recorded a year ago.

Dominguez wrote the Senate about the status of UIB payouts after lawmakers asked him in a previous hearing on the status of financial assistance for displaced workers.

Sen. Grace Poe requested the SSS to submit a report on how it is implementing the UIB at a time when millions of jobless Filipinos – 3.1 million as of July – are struggling with their finances.