BusinessWorld
January 8, 2021 | 7:36 pm
The Employees Compensation Commission (ECC) will resume giving cash aid to employees who got the coronavirus after suspending the program in September over budget constraints.
“We are ready to open again for cash assistance,” ECC Executive Director Stella Z. Banawis told an online news briefing on Friday.
Ms. Banawis said the ECC expanded its cash assistance to cover COVID-related sickness, but had not anticipated the number of applicants that will avail the program.
She said only the cash aid for COVID-19 was suspended, while sickness, medical and funeral benefits and death pension had not been affected.
This comes after reports from labor group Federation of Free Workers that the ECC had denied applications of its members who got infected with the coronavirus.
Published January 8, 2021, 4:34 PM
The Employees Compensation Commission (ECC) said it has already processed more than half of the 8,000 plus applications it has received for cash assistance.
ECC Executive Director Stella Zipagan-Banawis explained that although they suspended last September the applications for cash assistance, they continued processing all the applications they received.
“We continued to process all applications we received numbering 8,000 plus. So far, we already processed more than 4,000 of this,” she said in a virtual forum on Friday.
“Many also were unable to comply with the documentary requirements for it to be processed,” Banawis added.
“We informed them to complete it (the requirements) so they can apply again in 2021,” she said.
Published January 7, 2021, 4:49 PM
The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) on Thursday, Jan. 7, said a number of workers are still waiting to receive their compensation benefits as the Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC) has stopped releasing benefits due to lack of available funds.
FFW Vice President Julius Cainglet said while claims and applications are still being accepted by the ECC, no benefits have been released.
“Officially, they are still accepting claims but there have been no releases [of benefits],” he said in a virtual press briefing.
“At the height of the [COVID-19] pandemic, many have been turned down due to lack of funds,” added Cainglet.
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(MANILA BULLETIN)
The groups banded under the Leaders’ Forum, a national bipartite committee, said they have submitted a joint letter to PhilHealth dated December 15, 2020, calling for urgent resolution on issues surrounding the agency that have significant impacts on member-employers and workers.
In the said letter, the Leaders Forum, composed of business organizations – Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), and the Philippine Exporters Confederation (PHILEXPORT), and trade union federations, Federation of Free Workers (FFW), Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO), and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) – cited four main issues hounding the PhilHealth.