Over P5.4 billion worth of calamity loans for the Covid-19 health crisis have been approved by the Social Security System (SSS) last month.
In an online news briefing on Wednesday, SSS President Aurora Ignacio said the loans benefited 346,375 members, who applied for the said benefit from June 15 to June 30, 2020.
She said the approved loans averaged between P11,500 and P16,400.
Ignacio said their Calamity Loan Assistance Program (CLAP) is usually only available for areas, which are placed under a state of calamity.
But since President Duterte placed the entire country under a state of national health emergency, she said CLAP is now available for all of its qualified members.
CLAP could be availed of by SSS members who have at least 36 months of contributions, with six posted within the past 12 months on or before the month of application.
Because of the said requirements, Ignacio said 119,000 CLAP applications were rejected.
She noted the CLAP is available from June 15, 2020, to September 14, 2020.
In demand benefit
IN a related development, SSS said it has observed a notable spike in the number of applicants for its unemployment benefits last month.
From June 1 to June 23, 2020, Ignacio said they released P60 million worth of unemployment benefits to 4,496 jobless SSS members.
“So workers are really affected by the [Covid-19] calamity,” Ignacio remarked.
In its latest displacement report, the Department of Labor and Employment already registered almost 100,000 workers, who were permanently displaced this year.
To note, around 30,000 SSS members already availed of the P354-million unemployment benefits since it was made available in August 2019.