ECC

Protecting Workers’ Interest and Welfare

The Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC) is a government corporation attached to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for policy and program coordination. It is a quasi-judicial entity created to implement the Employees’ Compensation Program.

The Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC) was created on November 1, 1974 by virtue of PD 442 or the Labor Code of the Philippines. It become fully operational with the issuance of PD 626, as amended which took effect on January 1, 1975.

The Employees’ Compensation Program (ECP) was designed to provide workers and their families with income benefits in the event of work-connected sickness, injury or death. These benefits are in addition to whatever the employees are entitled to under the other social protection programs like the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the Social Security System (SSS) and the Philippine Health Insurance System (PhilHealth).

The ECP covers only the formal sector workers, specifically the paying members of the SSS and the GSIS as well as the members of the PNP, AFP and the BJMP. It applies only to workers with employer-employee relationship. The ECP is being implemented by the Social Security System (SSS) for the private sector and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) for the public sector. The basic functions of the Employees’ Compensation Commission are the following:

• Appealed Claims Disposition commits to expeditiously resolve appealed cases from the GSIS and the SSS by providing adequate income, medical and related benefits to employees; and their dependents in the event of work-connected disability or death.

• Policy Formulation provides comprehensive and in-depth review of existing policies for the purpose of updating, amending and formulating new policies to ensure effective implementation of the EC Program.

• Employees’ Compensation Advocacy focuses on the preventive, rehabilitative, and compensatory aspects of the program for the purpose of informing the workers and their dependents of their rights, benefits and privileges under the Employees’ Compensation Program. Through the years, the ECC has expediently addressed major issues through relevant programs and projects with the end in view of improving the employees’ compensation program’s implementation.

One of these is the ECC-QRT Program that aims to provide victims or beneficiaries of work-related contingencies with assistance so that they may be able to cope with the untimely death of a love one and to lighten the burden of sudden financial incapacity by facilitating the prompt release of EC benefits.

ECC-QRT member Dianne Bautista explains to Seaman Jojit Pungo the documentary requirements in filing an EC claim at the Government Service Insurance System. Seaman First Class Pungo was one of the two coastguardsmen who sustained bone fractures during the Philippine-Japan anti-piracy drill on July 9, 2009.

“Through the years, the ECC has expediently addressed major issues through relevant programs and projects with the end in view of improving the employees’ compensation program’s implementation.”

KaGabay Program (Katulong at Gabay sa Manggagawang may Kapansanan) is a special economic assistance program initiated by the ECC in 2002 for Occupationally-Disabled Workers (ODWs) who lost employment by reason of work-related sickness or injury. It facilitates the ODWs reintegration into the economic mainstream through physical restoration, vocational skills training for possible re-employment and entrepreneurial training for small or home-based business. The Public Assistance Program (PAC), which started operating on June 20, 2003, aims to maximize and facilitate the agency’s responsibility of providing immediate information on the ECP thru telephone and personal advice.

The State Insurance Fund (SIF) Monitoring Program aims to continuously monitor the status of the SIF and do an in-depth analysis of the disbursements of the GSIS and the SSS to meet the compensatory requirements of victims of work-related sickness, injury or death. Its goal is to sustain the viability of the SIF so it can serve its purpose for all time. In June 2009, the employees’ compensation program granted benefits worth Php549.203 million for 135,198 private sector workers while Php31.75 million was provided to 7,616 government employees with work-connected sickness, injuries or death.

Since 1975, a total of Php28.863 billion EC benefits were granted to 3,851,742 private and government employees. Dr. Dante Nacpil, DepEd Medical Officer of Quezon City, stresses the advantage of using fixed dosed combination treatment for suspected TB cases during the Conference Towards Improved TB Program Implementation Among Public School Teachers held on September 23, 2009 at ECC-Multi– purpose Hall. The ECC-QRT introduce the ECC Reporter to Lydio Felizarta, training officer and coordinator of Sulpicio Lines, Inc. Felizarta promised to assist the ECC-QRT by providing the list of crew members of the ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars and names and addresses of their next of kin to enable ECC to reach potential beneficiaries of the EC program.