State-run Social Security System (SSS) said its funeral benefit disbursements dropped last year due to the prolonged nationwide implementation of community quarantine measures.
In a statement, Aurora C. Ignacio, SSS president and chief executive officer said the pension fund disbursed P3.07 billion worth of funeral benefits in January to December last year, down by 27 percent compared with P4.23 billion in 2019.
Moreover, the number of beneficiaries also declined to 135,600 in 2020 from 186,730 a year earlier.
Ignacio said the quarantine rules since March 2020 prohibited movements of transacting members to various government offices, including SSS.
Over the years, SSS funeral benefits had steadily grown from P3.58 billion (163,589 members) in 2016, P3.79 billion (170,358 members) in 2017, to P3.91 billion (175,024 members) in 2018.
“The majority of our members have postponed their personal visits to our branches for fear of being exposed to COVID-19, while some still wait for the availability of their supporting documents too, hence the decline of disbursements,” Ignacio said.
SSS funeral benefit is a cash grant given to anyone who paid for the burial expenses of the deceased member, amounting to a minimum of P20,000 to a maximum of P40,000 depending on the contributions paid effective August 2015.
Meanwhile, Ignacio reminded SSS member-claimants that they may now submit their funeral benefit claim application online via My.SSS.
“It is also important that they have a Unified Multi-Purpose ID (UMID) or a SSS digitized ID and an enrolled disbursement account under the Disbursement Account Enrollment Module (DAEM) for checkless payment of cash benefits,” she explained.
Since COVID-19 has been a global health pandemic, precautionary measures are strictly being implemented in SSS branches such as wearing of face masks, face shields, accomplishing health declaration slip, and maintaining social distancing.
SSS, however, implemented new policies such as the number coding scheme and submission of benefit applications through the drop box system.
In compliance with Civil Service Commission (CSC) guidelines, only 50 percent to70 percent of SSS workforce has been deployed in offices while some are on alternative work arrangements (AWA).