The guidelines for Calamity Loan Assistance Program (CLAP) for members and Three-Month Advance Pension for pensioners residing in areas declared under a state of calamity due to the recent onslaught of typhoon Karding were released by the Social Security System (SSS) on Friday, Oct. 14.
Among those areas are "Nueva Ecija (Province-Wide); Dingalan, Aurora; Macabebe and Candaba in Pampanga; San Miguel, Bulacan; Cabangan, Zambales; Concepcion, Tarlac; Burdeos, General Nakar, Jomalig, Panukulan, Patnanungan, and Polilio in Quezon Province," SSS said.
The application for the assistance programs was opened last Oct. 7 and will last until Jan. 6, 2023.
Under CLAP, members may avail of a loan "equivalent to the average of their last 12 monthly salary credits or the amount they applied for, whichever is lower.”
It has a two-year (24 months) payment term with an interest of 10 percent per annum computed on a diminishing principal balance.
The one percent service fee of the loan will be waived, SSS said.
Here are the following qualifications for CLAP: a registered My.SSS account; at least 36 monthly contributions, six of which should be posted within the last 12 months prior to the month of CLAP application, and at least six posted monthly contributions under the current coverage/membership type before the month of application for self-employed, voluntary, non-working spouse, and land-based Overseas Filipino Worker members.
The applicant must also be a resident of an area declared under a state of calamity; suffered damage or loss of property; has not been granted any final benefit claim such as permanent total disability or retirement, and has no outstanding Restructured Loan or CLAP.
The application will be done via SSS' online portal and employed applicants still need to have their loans verified by their employers.
The proceeds will go directly to the members' Unified Multi-Purpose Identification Card enrolled as an ATM or in their enrolled bank account in the Disbursement Account Enrollment Module (DAEM), SSS said.
DAEM can be either a Philippine Electronic Fund Transfer System and Operations Network or PESONet or a Union Bank of the Philippines Quick Card.
Meanwhile, pensioners interested to avail Three-Month Advance Pension need to submit, at their respective SSS branch, an accomplished Application for Assistance Due to Calamity/Disaster form certified by their Barangay Chairman.
A certificate from the Department of Social Welfare and Development or the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council will also be accepted.
The proceeds of the advance pension will be released through a check by the SSS branch where the pensioner submitted his/her application.
"If the check was not claimed within 10 working days from the branch’s receipt, it will be mailed to the pensioner’s mailing address," SSS said.
However, pensioners with existing loans under the Pension Loan Program will not be qualified to avail of the said assistance.