SSS disbursed P 2.35B to jobless members as of June 2021

Amid the pandemic-induced economic slump that shed millions of jobs, the state-run pension fund Social Security System (SSS) disbursed a total of P2.35 billion in benefits to jobless members as of June this year.

In a statement on Tuesday, Finance Secretary and Social Security Commission chair Carlos Dominguez III said that since the SSS’s unemployment insurance benefit was introduced under Republic Act No. 11199, or the Social Security Act of 2018, a total of P2.62 billion was released to qualified members who had been involuntarily unemployed since the law took effect in March 2019.

Under RA 11199, the SSS releases unemployment benefits worth half of a member’s average monthly salary credit during a two-month period, upon approval.
To date, a total of 196,021 SSS members had availed themselves of the unemployment insurance benefit.

Out of these total releases and beneficiaries, the bulk were a result of the job losses inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dominguez said P2.35 billion worth of unemployment benefits or 90 percent of the total were disbursed to 173,791 members between March of last year up to June this year.

“Amid the pandemic, the SSS has made it easier and more convenient for members to apply for unemployment insurance benefit claims by allowing applications online through the My.SSS member portal on the SSS website,” Dominguez said.

“The SSS also started using electronic payment systems in releasing the unemployment insurance and other benefit claims in line with instructions for the pension fund to digitize its system in order to speed up the grant of loans and benefits to its members,” the Finance chief added. INQ