House bill seeks to triple SSS unemployment benefit for displaced workers

MANILA, Philippines— A bill has been filed at the House of Representatives seeking to triple the unemployment benefit laid-off workers will receive from the Social Security System (SSS).

Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel filed House Bill 8594 which will allow displaced workers to claim unemployment benefits equal to 50 percent of their monthly salary for a maximum of six months.

Currently, the subsidy is equal to 50 percent of their monthly salary for only a maximum of two months.

“Our bill seeks to give more meaning to social security, and to the mandate of the 1987 Constitution for the State to afford full protection to labor,” Pimentel said Sunday in a statement.

“We have to guarantee households income security and safeguard them against distress when breadwinners lose their jobs through no fault of their own,” he added.

If the bill is enacted, Pimentel said a displaced worker whose monthly salary is at P15,000 could claim P45,000 in unemployment benefits. At present, the same worker can claim only P15,000.

Many Filipinos were retrenched from their jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Just last week, Philippine Airlines announced laying off 2,300 employees by mid-March.

/MUF