ZAMBOANGA CITY – Recognizing the need to continually enhance benefits under the Employees’ Compensation Program (ECP) and make it more responsive to the welfare and development needs of persons with work-related disabilities (PWRDs), the Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC) has approved an increase in the amount of Carer’s Allowance from P575 to P1,000 per month.
Carer’s Allowance is a supplemental pension provided to pensioners in the private and public sector who suffer from work-connected permanent partial and permanent total disabilities.
Department of Labor and Employment Secretary and ECC Chairperson Silvestre H. Bello III said that this initiative is in line with ECC’s mandate to upgrade benefits and add new ones, subject to the approval of the President of the Philippines. The increase in the Carer’s Allowance is the Commission’s way of ensuring that the package of benefits and services it provides will remain relevant and meaningful.
ECC Executive Director Stella Zipagan-Banawis said that the increase in EC Carer’s Allowance, which is provided for under ECC Board Resolution No. 18-02-03, was based on the actuarial study conducted by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the administering agency of the ECP for the public sector. Based on the study, the State Insurance Fund at the GSIS will remain viable and will last beyond 2066 even after the proposed increase in the amount of the Carer’s Allowance.
Furthermore, he added that the said increase would not require additional EC premium contribution from employers. A copy of the said board resolution has been transmitted to President Rodrigo Duterte for approval and the subsequent issuance of the corresponding Executive Order.
ECC increases PWRDs livelihood package, transportation and meal allowance
In an effort to provide a meaningful package of services to persons with work-related disabilities (PWRDs), the ECC said it also increased the amount of its livelihood starter kit from to P20,000-P30,000 from its previous amount of P10,000. And the amount of the transportation and meal allowance from the previous P250 a day to P500 a day.
The increases in benefits were provided for under ECC Board Resolution Nos. 18-02-06 and 18-02-05.
Under the ECP Rehabilitation Services, a PWRD is provided with a balanced program of remedial treatment, vocational assessment, and preparation designed to meet their individual needs to help their reintegration into the economic mainstream.
“The transportation and meal allowance is provided to those PWRDs provided with free physical therapy sessions or skills/entrepreneurial training sessions,” Director Banawis said. “As part of the rehabilitation services of the ECP, PWRDs who availed of the skills and entrepreneurial training are also provided with starter kits.”
She further explained that the increases in the amount of the livelihood starter kit and transportation and meal allowance are ECC’s way of ensuring that the ECP’s package of benefits takes into consideration different economic duress such as inflationary trends in living costs and that the amount of grant is enough for the PWRD to establish a profitable and sustainable business.
“If we really want our PWRDs to start a sustainable livelihood undertaking, we need to provide them, not only with the necessary skills, but with the sufficient amount of tools and equipment that will make their businesses at par with their competitors,” Secretary Bello also said. (Mindanao Examiner)
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