A total of 3.4 million workers in the country who haven’t received their salaries due to the COVID-19 pandemic are going to receive cash assistance starting on May 1-15 2020 while the second tranche will be on May 16-31 2020.
According to Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the Php 50.8 billion wage subsidy program to help the micro, small and medium enterprise workers who are currently under the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) imposed by the government to avoid the spreading of the deadly disease.
The Social Security System (SSS) will accept applications from April 16 to April 30 only and will be completed by the employers in place of their employees. Each eligible worker will receive Php 5000 to Php 8000 for 2 months depending on the monthly minimum wage of their region.
Employees who acquired financial support from the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) by DOLE will be only qualified for the first month of SBWS since it is considered a one month parcel.
The following are the list of regions and their monthly wage subsidy per personnel:
| Region | Monthly Wage Subsidy |
| NCR | Php 8000 |
| CAR | Php 5500 |
| I | Php 5500 |
| II | Php 5500 |
| III | Php 8000 |
| 1V-A | Php 8000 |
| IV-B | Php 5000 |
| V | Php 5000 |
| VI | Php 6000 |
| VII | Php 6000 |
| VIII | Php 5000 |
| IX | Php 5000 |
| X | Php 6000 |
| XI | Php 6000 |
| XII | Php 5000 |
| CARAGA | Php 5000 |
| BARMM | Php 5000 |
Small Businesses who can apply:
- Is not a part of BIR’s Large Taxpayer’s Service List.
- Businesses under non- essential and quasi-essential are force to suspend operations due to ECQ.
Employees must have the following criteria:
- Works in an acceptable small business.
- An active labourer as of March 1, 2020 but unable to work because of home quarantine.
- Can be of any status of contract (regular, project-based, seasonal, fixed-termed or probationary.
- Authenticated by the employer.
Conditions to avail the program:
- Must not resign during the ECQ period.
- A proprietor cannot dismiss a staff who got the subsidy.
How to know if your employer is part of the pre-qualified list of SBWS?
- Open BIR’s official website www.bir.gov.ph
- Clicks the SBWS icon that can be found on the homepage.
- Enter your employer’s TIN number on the search field.
- If you are qualified, a green prompt will appear. If you’re from a corporation, your registered name and passcode will surface. On the other hand, a red prompt will pop up if you are not allowed to benefit for the program.
- After getting the passcode, you may log in at My.SSS account.
How to apply on SSS?
- The employer must click the Small Business Wage Subsidy tab.
- Paste the passcode that you got from BIR portal and type your employer’s TIN number. Afterwards, click the proceed button to enter application portal.
- The employer will choose the permitted employees by clicking the box that can be found at the left side while the applicant will click the box on the right side if you are a beneficiary of CAMP.
- After selecting the eligible workers, the employer will type each employee’s TIN numbers.
- An employer will click the” I agree” button to notify that all information provided on the application is complete and correct.
- The employer will submit the Certification Attesting to the Work and Pay Status of employee at gov.ph after completing the application.
- SSS automated system will check if the employee hasn’t received any unemployment benefits, or not a beneficiary of CAMP.
- Guaranteed employees will receive an email from SSS that their employers approved their qualification for SBWS.
For questions about the pre-qualification, you can send an email at [email protected] with your TIN, registered name, Revenue District Office and message. You can also call SSS at 1455 or visit their website.
References:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/birgovph/
https://www.gmanetwork.com
https://pnl-law.com
