Qualified displaced workers will be required to first secure certification from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) before they could avail themselves of the new unemployment insurance of the Social Security System (SSS).
Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) Director Dominique R. Tutay said in an interview on Wednesday that the DOLE is now crafting a new circular for the implementation of the new policy.
“The DOLE Secretary is set to issue a department circular setting the guidelines on the issuance of DOLE certification as a requirement for application for payment of unemployment insurance of involuntary separation benefits,” Tutay said.
She said the certification will ensure applicants for the program were involuntarily retrenched.
Last month, President Duterte signed Republic Act (RA) 11199, or the Social Security Act.
Among its salient provisions is the granting of unemployment insurance to SSS members, who are not over 60 years old and have paid 36 months of contribution.
To be eligible for the program, SSS members should have been have been displaced due to authorized and just causes, economic downturn, as well as natural or human-induced calamities.
‘Additional layer’
Tutay said the DOLE welcomes the new program since it will provide “another layer of social safety net” for displaced workers.
“Hopefully, this will hasten their reentry in the labor market,” she said.
Qualified applicants will get monthly cash benefits equivalent to 50 percent of their average monthly salary credit for a maximum of two months.
Tutay noted the duration of the SSS unemployment insurance is shorter compared to that of other countries, which would last from six months and even to year.
Still, she said it would provide temporary income for displaced workers to help them find a new job.
The implementation of the unemployment insurance is still pending since SSS has yet to issue the necessary guidelines for its enforcement.
Program gaps
Labor groups said they are “hesitant” to throw their support behind the program due to concerns over its implementation.
Federation of Free Workers (FFW) Vice President Julius Cainglet said the unemployment insurance program of SSS is not on a par with that of other countries.
“It does not contain any components like that for the training and placement [of the unemployed workers],” Cainglet said.
Multiples studies previously conducted by the DOLE’s Institute of Labor Studies (ILS) have recommended the inclusion of the said components in an unemployment insurance program to boost the chances of beneficiaries of being rehired.
In fact, the financial assistance program rolled by the government for workers, who were displaced due to the implementation of the K to 12 program and temporary closure of Boracay Island in previous years, followed a similar scheme.
Cainglet also raised concerns over the “restrictive requirements” for availing of the unemployment insurance.
“What we want is for the benefit to be also given to
contractual workers since they are usually the ones who are regularly
unemployed. And, yet, the law requires continuous [payment] of contribution to
avail it,”
Cainglet said.
“How will they able to avail it if they are constantly hired and retrenched through a ‘555’ arrangement?” he added.
Premium hike
SSS is set to start the first phase of its long-term premium increase next month to help improve its existing services and jump-start its unemployment insurance.
Once implemented, it will raise SSS premium rates from 11 percent to 12 percent.
Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) gave its conditional support for the looming premium hike until SSS is able to prove it is worth it through “fast, efficient and quality service.”
TUCP President Raymond Mendoza said his group will specifically monitor SSS’s implementation of the Expanded Maternity Leave Law and the unemployment insurance program.
“If the SSS will not render this improved quality service, SSS actively paying members will be very disappointed and will not cooperate which would result to higher rate of delinquency among members,” Mendoza said.