The Social Security System (SSS) has disbursed P3.07 billion worth of funeral benefits to over 135,600 beneficiaries in 2020.
Over the years, SSS recorded P3.58 billion to 163,589 members in 2016; P3.79 billion to 170,358 members in 2017; P3.91 billion to 175,024 members in 2018; and P4.23 billion in 2019 to 186,730 members.
SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Aurora C. Ignacio said that the 27 percent drop in funeral benefit disbursements was due to the nationwide implementation of community quarantine since March 2020, which prohibits movements of transacting members to various government offices, including SSS.
“Since COVID-19 has been a global health pandemic, precautionary measures are strictly being implemented in our branches such as wearing of face masks, face shields, accomplishing health declaration slip, and maintaining social distancing. However, we have 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 50-70% of our workforce has been deployed in our offices while some are on alternative work arrangements (AWA) to protect our employees and transacting clients from the virus. Also, 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.
“We would like to remind our 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,” Ignacio explained.
If with UMID card enrolled as ATM, the funeral benefit payment shall be credited to the latter by default. If none, member-claimants may choose their preferred disbursement account from any of the following payment channels: bank account in any PESONet participating banks; or E-wallets such as PayMaya; Union Bank of the Philippines (UBP) Quick Card; Electronic wallet (E-Wallet) such as Paymaya; or pick-up arrangement with remittance transfer companies (RTCs) / cash payout outlets (CPOs) such as M Lhuillier. If they have UMID cards enrolled as ATM, the funeral benefit payment shall be credited to the latter by default. However, they can access the complete step-by-step procedures for the DAEM through this link https://bit.ly/3rMFFzS.
To submit applications online, member-claimants should log in to their My.SSS web accounts, proceed to the E-Services Tab and select “Submit Funeral Claim Application” to encode all the required information. They should click “Proceed” for SSS validation of provided information and confirmation of eligibility to funeral benefit. The civil status of the deceased member, relationship with the deceased member, and disbursement account enrolled in DAEM should also be provided.
In addition, the following supporting documents must also be uploaded: proof to establish membership of deceased member; death certificate duly registered with the Local Civil Registry or issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA); and proof of payment of funeral expenses, including official receipts from memorial park or funeral parlor. Only images and PDF copies with a maximum size of 2 MB may be uploaded per document. One must read the “Certification” carefully and click confirm before submission. Applicants will receive an e-mail notification upon successful submission of the claim. They can also view the status through their My.SSS accounts or SSS Mobile App.
Meanwhile, non-SSS members and SSS members without UMID or SSS Digitized ID must submit their duly accomplished applications, together with the above-mentioned supporting documents, plus a photocopy of the claimant’s two valid IDs to the nearest SSS branch via Dropbox System.
For more information on the program, you may visit or follow the official Facebook Page of SSS at “Philippine Social Security System – SSS,” Instagram at “mysssph,” Twitter at “PHLSSS,” or join the Viber Community at “MYSSSPH Updates”.
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