SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union — The Employees Compensation Commission (ECC), an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), is a big boon to workers in the government and private sectors.
This was according to ECC Executive Director Stella Banawis in a talk during a special edition of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) forum at Oasis Resort Hotel here on Tuesday.
Banawis said as long as the workers are members of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) or the Social Security System (SSS) and have employer-employee relationship, they are covered by ECC.
She said those who are self-employed are not yet covered by ECC but there is an ongoing study by the agency to determine if they will be ultimately covered.
“We are basically a policy-making body. We are the agency determining what the employee and his or her dependents will receive in case of work-related sickness, accidents or death,” she explained.
Aside from being a policy making body, the ECC is also an appellate body that will decide on the appeals of the employees in case the GSIS or the SSS does not approve the claims of the employee and is being given 20 days to decide on a case appealed, Banawis explained.
Also present during the forum were Deputy ECC Executive Director Jonathan Villacorta and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Regional Director Nathaniel Lacambra.
Villacorta is in charge of receiving and acting on the appeals filed by the employee within the 20-day processing time, she said and if the appeal is not resolved within the period, the case will be elevated to the Court of Appeals and to the Supreme Court if there is a need for it.
Banawis said the employees do not know that in case they file monetary claims from the GSIS or SSS, the ECC has a significant role in determining the amount of compensation they will receive.
ECC has set up its regional offices in various parts of the country where its officials go around offices to explain the important role they play.
DOLE Regional Director Lacambra said before the ECC set up its regional office in Region 1, it is the DOLE that had taken the task of explaining the role played by the agency to the workers and their dependents.
He said if there is an industrial accident in any place in Region 1, the ECC can now conduct incident investigation, having a regional office already in place in Region 1. (Leonardo Micua/PNA)
