LABOR Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has ordered the speedy release of employees’ compensation, insurance and funeral benefits to families of the 44 National Police-Special Action Force troopers who died in a clash with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Maguindanao.
She said the families of the 44 police commandos are entitled to receive benefits from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), which will process and pay the police officers’ employment-compensation (EC) claims and benefits.
“We know that these EC claims and benefits cannot bring back to life those who sacrificed their lives for the country, but in a way, somehow, these might ease the emotional and material burden of the widows and children, as well as the relatives, of our uniformed personnel who perished or were injured in this unfortunate event,” Baldoz said in a statement.
Baldoz said the families of the SAF troopers who were killed should not have difficulty in preparing documents for claiming the EC and other benefits.
The Employees Compensation Program provides dependents of the slain officers death benefits or the monthly pension, still to be determined. Beneficiaries include surviving spouse until she remarries, and 10 percent of the surviving spouse’s pension for up to five children until they reach the age of 21—and funeral benefits of P20,000.
Baldoz said the police commandos who sustained work-related injury are entitled to loss of income benefits—a cash benefit to compensate for loss of income owing to inability to work.
She said there are three types of loss of income benefits: temporary total disability, permanent total disability and permanent partial disability.
Meanwhile, for medical benefits, they are entitled to reimbursement for the cost of medicines for the illness or injury; payment to providers of medical care; hospital care; surgical expenses; and the costs of appliances and supplies they availed themselves of from accredited hospitals.
At the same time, those who will suffer permanent total disability arising from an injury they suffer from the encounter can also receive carer’s allowance.
Families of the fatalities can also avail themselves of assistance from the Employees’ Compensation Commission under its Katulong at Gabay sa Manggagawang may Kapansanan (KaGabay).
The compensation program aims to assist people with work-related diseases and the heirs of those who died in the line of duty. The program aims to facilitate their integration into the economic mainstream through physical restoration, training for re-employment, or self-entrepreneurship.
The KaGabay program offers physical restoration, or the provision of physical or occupational therapy services, including assistive devices, such as prosthesis, hearing aid, braces and wheelchair.
“These benefits are purely employment compensation and do not include other benefits due to the police officers as government workers,” Baldoz said.
The National Police, meanwhile, announced that it has opened an account with the Land Bank of the Philippines for cash donations intended to aid surviving family members of police officers who recently died in Maguindanao.
This is in line with the government efforts to honor the 44 SAF troopers who died after a pitch battle with joint Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Maguindanao on January 25.
with PNA