DOLE-ECC brings employees' compensation program advocacy to Iloilo

ILOILO CITY, Nov. 13 – The Employees Compensation Commission (ECC), an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Friday gathered more than 200 participants from various companies in Western Visayas for a one-day advocacy seminar on its compensation program and benefits and services that go with it.

Dr. Melva Y. Sacro, chief of the Work Contingency Prevention and Rehabilitation Division (WCPRD), said it has come to their attention that a lot of companies still do not know the existence of the commission.

“We’d like to bring our programs to different companies, workers and employers because they are not aware of the benefits that they can avail of when they have accidents or injuries in work place,” she said. “We thought of going to different regions for us to be able to inform as many companies as we can about our program”

Aurora I. Quilandrino, officer-in-charge of the Information and Public Assistance Division, explained that the program was designed to provide package of benefits to those who suffered a work-connected injury or death.

Dubbed as double recovery benefits, she added, the claim from the ECC is on top of the benefits that can be availed from the Social Security System (SSS) for private employees and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) for government employees.

Under the ECC, only the employer is mandated to pay for the premium contribution amounting to P10 per month for employees earning below P14,500 per monthly and P30 per month for employees with a compensation of P15 and higher.

A premium of P100 for every government employee is paid by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

It was disclosed that since 1975 up to 2008, around three million employees have availed of benefits under the ECC program totaling to P28 billion.

Most of those who availed of the benefits were from the government sector.

However, the number is still small when served as bases to determine the level of awareness of employees about the program, said Quilandrino.

Meantime, Sacro said a similar advocacy will be held in Cagayan de Oro next week and in Region IV-A in December.

She added they will target more regions in 2010 for a stronger advocacy.

Also there is an on-going orientation at their head office or companies can also invite them for free orientations. (PNA) LDV/ajp/PGL/vlo

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