SSS to accept online applications for unemployment benefits, suspends payments for loans

Applications for the Social Security System (SSS) unemployment benefit will be available for online filing.

During the Laging Handa public briefing, Aurora Ignacio, SSS President and CEO, has stated that the application for unemployment benefits is filed over-the-counter. However, SSS is developing a way of filing the application process online instead.

The SSS is ready to provide PHP 660 million as benefits for SSS members who may lose their jobs due to layoffs or closures of companies affected by the COVID-19. Under a worst-case scenario, the SSS has stated that it will up the budget to PHP 1.2 billion. On average, the unemployment benefit that members will receive is around PHP 11,000.

Premium-paying members can also avail unemployment benefits equal to half of their average monthly salary credit (AMSC) for a maximum of two months. To qualify for the unemployment benefit, members should have been displaced due to redundancy, installation of labor-saving devices, retrenchment, closure or cessation of operation, and disease or illness. Moreover, members should have paid the minimum number of monthly contributions for three years, of which 12 should have been paid in the last 18 months.

Additionally, Ignacio said that the SSS had given its members a moratorium (or suspension) for all loan payments, in line with the Bayanihan to Heal As One law. The grace period should last at least 30 days due within the period of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine. During the moratorium, SSS members will not incur any interests, penalties, fees, and other charges. The grace period also applies to people with multiple loans for every loan.

Source: PNA