State-run pension fund Social Security System (SSS) said it approved more than 4,300 unemployment benefit applications that were filed online, two weeks after announcing the new procedure.
From June 22 to July 6, SSS President and CEO Aurora Ignacio said they already released an initial P59.80 million worth of unemployment benefits to 4,392 qualified members who submitted their online application thru the My.SSS account.
“We expect that these figures will continue to increase as more companies announced retrenchment and closure of businesses due to the pandemic crisis,” Ignacio said in a statement during the weekend. Citing data from the SSS, Ignacio said the highest number of online applicants came from Luzon with 1,697, followed by those in the National Capital Region (NCR) with 972 applicants, and the Visayas and Mindanao with 894 and 822 applicants, respectively.
In terms of the mode of disbursement, 99 percent of the members received their cash benefits through their savings accounts, while the others claimed their unemployment benefits through their Unified Multipurpose Identification (UMID) Card enrolled as ATM or through Remittance Transfer Companies (RTC)/ Cash Payout Outlets (CPO).
“As part of our digital transformation efforts, SSS aside from shifting its transactions online is also geared towards a checkless payment system,” Ignacio added.
Before submitting the benefit application online, Ignacio reminded members that they should have their own My.SSS account through registering at the SSS website.
The disbursement account should also be registered in their My.SSS accounts through Bank Enrollment Module (BEM). (Alexandria San Juan)