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provided for unemployment insurance without the benefit of prior study, especially on the area of actuarial solvency. In any case, this law was not implemented because of doubtful constitutionality, having provided for pilot areas or experi- mental projects.
The 1957 amendments
In 1957 the Law was amended making the operation of the system countrywide in scope and no longer on a pilot project basis. The amendments retained the four benefits of death, disability, sickness and retirement but eliminated unemployment. Other amendments included the reduction of the number of years of coverage required for retirement pension from 10 to 2 years, thus opening the door to possible abuses. In any case, the great majority of SSS retirees could only qualify for the minimum pension of P25 a month inasmuch as only the high salaried members with a very long period of coverage could qualify for higher pension amounts. Another defect of the Law was that protection terminated upon failure to pay contributions for more than 6 months. To cure this defect, an administrative regulation was adopted allowing in such cases the refund of the employee's share in the contributions, which again was based on life insurance concepts.
In any case, the Law was implemented on 1 September 1957.
The 1960 amendments
To cure the
1957, an amendatory following:
defects or otherwise improve the scheme that was implemented in Act was passed in 1960. Among the amendments were the
(1) provisions that would entitle the members to lifetime protection and entitlement to benefits which, however, may be reduced in proportion by the period of non-payment of contributions;
(2)
(3)
the retirement scheme was improved by way of increasing the amount of benefit to a level approaching the minimum standards set by the 1952 Geneva Convention as well as providing for higher benefits for the low-income group;
increments were added to benefits of members who have contributed for поге than 10 years. This provision once more laid emphasis on the individual equity principle of life insurance rather than on the "needs" requirement of social insurance.
Other subsequent amendments and medicare
in
From
1960,
several amendatory Acts were passed to further develop the scheme terms of increased benefits and technical improvement that would ensure expeditious adjudication of benefit claims.
In 1971 the Medicare Law was passed providing medical care benefits to members of both the SSS and the GSIS, effective January 1972.
The present Law
It
was, however, during the past 2 years of martial law that the more radical changes in the Social Security Law have been effected through a series of Presidential Decrees. As it now stands, the Law provides:
for pension payments of invalidity instead of the usual lump sum payment which contravenes accepted social security practices;
(1)
(2)
for the payment of funeral grants for all members already been receiving retirement pensions;
including those who have
(3)
for additional survivors' benefits in the forms children;
of pensions for surviving
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