ILOILO City – The Employees Compensation Commission (ECC) in Region 6 has released a total of P4,280,000 cash assistance to workers affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the past three months.
ECC Regional Officer Stephen Barredo said 428 workers benefited from the Employees Compensation cash assistance due to work-related COVID infection through its implementing agencies – the Social Security System (SSS) and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) from January 2022 to April 22, 2022.
ECC is an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment mandated to provide meaningful and appropriate compensation to workers in the event of work-related contingencies.
“We are now expediting the processing of some EC pending claims. The cash aid is over and above the EC benefits they received from SSS and GSIS,” said Barredo.
Under the EC COVID-19 cash assistance program, government and private workers who contracted the virus can avail themselves of an additional cash assistance of P10,000
On the other hand, in case of COVID-19 work-related death, qualified beneficiaries can avail themselves of P15,000 financial aid.
The inclusion of COVID-19 in the ECC List of Occupational and Work-Related Diseases is among the recent significant policies formulated by the agency indicating its commitment to be responsive to the demands of time.
The initiative provided much needed insurance to Filipinos who are at risk of contracting the virus from the moment they leave their homes for work. (PIA-6 Iloilo/PN)