The Philippine Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has begun an investigation into the production and sale of fake Social Security System (SSS) certificates.
Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said the department has started the investigation with the assistance of a regulatory agency.
This follows as they uncovered a proliferation of counterfeit Certificates of Involuntary Separation using the DOLE National Capital Region’s template form.
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“Any person or entity found illegally reproducing the document will be dealt with to the full extent of the law,” said DOLE-NCR Regional Director Atty. Sarah Buena Mirasol.
“As far as the DOLE-NCR is concerned, the issuance of a certificate of involuntary separation for SSS is free of charge. Clients may file directly through our e-filing services at http://ncr.dole.gov.ph/index.php,” Mirasol said.
The DOLE SSS certificate was mandatory for payment of unemployment insurance or involuntary separation benefit (cash grant) per Social Security System (SSS) Circular No. 2009-011.
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The unemployment insurance covers employees, including house helpers (kasambahay) and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were involuntarily separated from their job due to authorized causes like installation of labor-saving devices, redundancy, retrenchment or downsizing, closure or cessation of operation, or disease/illness of the employee whose “continued employment is prohibited by law or is prejudicial to his or his co-employees health.”
DOLE will be signing a joint memorandum with SSS to establish guidelines on the enhanced online filing of SSS unemployment benefits claim through the SSS website. (AW)
