More than 12,000 Employee Compensation (EC) pensioners will get a total of P252 million or Php20,000 in financial assistance each from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) in compliance with Administrative Order No. 39 recently signed by President Duterte.
Under the order, Pres. Duterte directs the grant of a one-time financial assistance to all EC pensioners, as they “experience undue financial hardships because of their vulnerabilities, and in anticipation of the prolonged economic impact of the (COVID-19) pandemic in their lives.”
“While we are happy to announce that we will release Php20,000 one-time financial assistance to each of our EC pensioners after the implementing rules of AO 39 is published, we would like to clarify that EC pensioners are former government employees who retired early due to work-related sickness, injury or disability and availed of benefits under Presidential Decree No. 626. EC survivorship pensioners are spouses of EC pensioners who died,” GSIS President and General Manager Rolando Ledesma Macasaet said.
Under Presidential Decree No. 626, GSIS administers the EC Fund which is purely an employer-based contribution benefit. The benefit is a compensation package for public and private sector employees and their dependents in the event of work-related injuries, sickness, disability or death.
“GSIS ang namamahala sa pondo ng Employees Compensation (EC) para sa government workers na siyang pagkukunan ng nasabing financial assistance. Ang pagbabayad ng nasabing financial assistance ay walang magiging epekto sa Social Insurance Fund kung saan napupunta ang kontribusyon ng GSIS members,” Macasaet said.
The financial assistance was a recommendation of GSIS and Social Security System(SSS). SSS manages the EC fund for employees in the private sector.
GSIS is currently coordinating with the Employees Compensation Commission (ECC) and SSS to finalize the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the AO. Granting will take effect immediately after the IRR publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines website or in a newspaper of general circulation.
For inquiries, visit the GSIS website (www.gsis.gov.ph), or Facebook account (@gsis.ph), email gsiscares@gsis.gov.ph, or call the GSIS Contact Center at 8847-4747 if in Metro Manila or 1-800-8-847-4747 (for Globe and TM subscribers) or 1-800-10-847-4747 (for Smart, Sun, and Talk ’N Text subscribers).
