CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga (PIA) — Social Security System (SSS) Luzon Central 2 Division enjoins small businesses within its area to apply in the subsidy program.
The Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS) Program will provide a wage subsidy for the 3.4 million employees of 1.5 million small businesses nationwide who are affected by the Enhanced Community Quarantine brought about by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
“Each eligible employee of a pre-qualified small business located in Region 3 will receive PhP8,000 per month for two months,” SSS Luzon Central 2 Division Vice President Gloria Corazon Andrada said.
“This is a great help to our no work, no pay workers so we encourage our employers to check if they are pre-qualified to the program by accessing the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) website using their company Tax Identification Number and by checking their emails registered with SSS for any notification on their eligibility and for further instructions in the application process,” she furthered.
Those who have already applied for COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program of Department of Labor and Employment may also be qualified under the SBWS.
Employers should make sure that all qualified employees are applied in the program to receive the subsidy.
“Please bear with us as we are now experiencing system downtime in the SSS website because of the sudden surge. Because of this, the SSS has rolled out an alternative application arrangement that does not require accessing the website, particularly for employers who are sent email links to the SBWS application. For other employers who are pre-qualified by BIR but who do not have registered emails in SSS records will be given a schedule to access our website,” Andrada added.
The wage subsidy funded by the national government will be paid out in two tranches in the coming month.
Andrada requests the cooperation of the pre-qualified small businesses whose employees will benefit from the program as an incentive for the employers’ compliance to SSS and BIR regulations.
Luzon Central 2 Division covers the provinces of Pampanga and Bulacan as well as the highly urbanized cities of Angeles and Olongapo.