House lawmaker Johnny Pimentel has filed a bill seeking to triple the separation benefits laid-off workers can claim from the Social Security System (SSS) amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Pimentel filed House Bill 8594 which states that retrenched workers can claim unemployment benefits equal to 50 percent of their monthly salary for a maximum of 6 months.
Under the current law, displaced workers only receive 50 percent of their monthly salary for a maximum of 2 months.
The benefits will be available for SSS members who have paid at least 36 monthly contributions, 12 months of which should be in the period immediately preceding the month of involuntary separation.
Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs and household staff may also avail of the benefit
“We have to guarantee households income security and safeguard them against distress when breadwinners lose their jobs through no fault of their own,” he said in a statement Sunday.
The Labor Department said that some 5 million Filipinos lost their jobs in 2020.
25,226 Filipinos were retrenched in January 2021 alone.
DOLE has set aside PHP19 billion for its cash assistance program, 3 billion will go to the tourism sector workers. (TDT)
