Death Benefits in the Philippines

Late last year, when someone in our extended family passed away, I became familiar with some of the death benefits available for beneficiaries in the Philippines. In my extended family’s case, some of these benefits were claimed successfully while the others were denied for various reasons.

Here are some death benefits in the Philippines:

SSS – SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM (For employees of private companies)

– Funeral benefit of 20,000 pesos regardless of number of monthly contributions, given to the person who spent for the funeral
– Monthly pension or lump-sum cash benefit for the legal spouse and legitimate, illegitimate or legally adopted children younger than 21 years old (up to 5 children), and older children with permanent disabilities

Pension is for the primary beneficiaries of deceased members who have contributed at least 36 monthly contributions before the semester of death.
Lump-sum is for primary beneficiaries of members who contributed less than 36 monthly contributions before the semester of death.

If there are no primary beneficiaries (no spouse and no children), the dependent parents receive the lump-sum cash benefit).

Pension amount or lump-sum amount depends on the number of credited years of membership and average monthly salary credit.

– For members who died in a workplace accident or due to an occupational illness, additional Employee Compensation benefits are given to beneficiaries.

Note:  File your claim at the SSS branch nearest where you live.
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PAG-IBIG or HOME DEVELOPMENT MUTUAL FUND (HDMF)

– The death benefit amount is a percentage of the Total Provident Benefits.  The Provident total is the sum of the member’s monthly contributions, employers’ contributions for the member and dividends. Yong death benefit sabay na ibinibigay sa Total Provident Benefit. Isang claim form lang siya.

Note:  File your claim at the branch where the member’s records are kept.

OWWA (For OFWs)

– Burial benefit of 20,000 pesos
– Insurance benefit of 100,000 pesos if death is due to natural cause or 200,000 pesos if death is due to accident

OWWA
Insurance & Health Care Benefits Division
7th Street cor. FB Harrison St. Pasay City
Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm
(or go to your OWWA Regional Welfare Office)

Note: If you’re an OFW, make sure your membership is always current. My relative paid his OWWA membership for the almost 30 years he worked abroad, but because he worked for two straight years during his last contract, he was not able to pay his OWWA membership, so his family’s claims were denied by OWWA.

You pay your OWWA when you pay your OEC or Overseas Exit Clearance or Balik-Manggagawa (BM) papers at the POEA or at any accredited OEC payment center or service. The OWWA membership fee is 25 US dollars, payable in pesos.

PRIVATE INSURANCE

–  This refers to life insurance policies purchased from private insurance companies such as Philam, Insular Life, and BPI-Philam Life (formerly Ayala Life), Sun Life, Manulife, PNB Life and others.

PRIVATE INSURANCE linked to BANK ACCOUNTS

–  There are life and accident insurance policies offered by banks as added benefits to certain special bank accounts and time deposits.

– An example is the BPI Get Started Savings Account with Life Insurance. The account comes with a free BPI-Philam Life insurance equivalent to 5 times the account’s balance, up to 2 million pesos.
Balance means the average month-to-date average daily balance of the past three calendar months prior to the death ofthe insured.

PRIVATE INSURANCE linked to CREDIT CARDS

– This is for credit cardholders who have purchased credit life insurance and life insurance policies from or through their credit card issuers.

– Examples are the Assure and Saver life insurance programs of Axa Philippines, a joint venture between Metrobank and Global AXA Group of France.

INSURANCE linked to MEMORIAL PLANS

– Some memorial companies give financial assistance or death benefits to the beneficiaries of those who pass away while still paying their memorial plans in monthly, quarterly or yearly installments.

– For instance, the St. Peter Life Plans with Return of Premium policy gives cash assistance to beneficiaries if the planholder dies during the paying period or within 5 years after full payment. There’s also additional benefit for death or loss of limbs or eyes due to accident.

HMO

– HMOs provide primarily hospitalization benefits, but most of them also provide death benefits to HMO members’ beneficiaries.

– An example is the INTELLICARE corporate HMO program of Asalus Corp. This HMO plan gives cash assistance of 10,000 pesos for natural death and 20,000 pesos for accidental death to the beneficiaries of principal HMO cardholders.

LOCAL EMPLOYER

– Separate death benefits for employees of companies with retirement, incentive or insurance programs for their employees. Usually ang mga big local companies and some foreign multinationals ang merong ganitong Death Benefits in the Philippines.

I looked at Book 4 of the Labor Code of the Philippines (titled Health, Safety and Social Welfare Benefits) and I saw that the only mandatory employee benefit related to death is that given by SSS. Mandatory for employers na tapatan nila ang SSS contribution ng employees. And later, naging mandatory rin yong employers’ share sa PAG-IBIG contributions.

OFW EMPLOYER

– Some OFW employers give death benefits, especially to the beneficiaries of long-time employees. If the OFW passes away while on vacation, the primary beneficiary should email the employer, together with a copy of the death certificate and a copy of marriage or birth certificate, and request for any financial benefit.

COOPERATIVES

– There are some cooperatives that provide death benefits or financial assistance to the beneficiaries of members. An example is the Center for Community Transformation (CCT), which has a group insurance partnership with Philam Life.

BARANGAY ASSOCIATIONS

– In our barangay and nearby barangays in our province in the North, there is an association called SARANAY. Whenever someone in the barangay dies, each family in the barangay contributes a certain amount of money (the same amount for all families) to accumulate money for the bereaved family. A total of 10,000 pesos (50 pesos times 200 families) is already a big help in the province.  I am proud of my mother, who is now in her 80s, because she and her friend were the ones who started this program years ago in our rural area, and now this program has spread out into other barangays.

May death benefit ba na nakukuha sa PHILHEALTH?
Sori, WALA, kasi hospitalization or medical treatment cost assistance ang focus ng Philhealth.

GSIS, AFP, PNP

Note:  We are not familiar with death benefits provided by the GSIS, AFP or PNP, so we will not be able to answer questions about these benefits.

GSIS (For government employees)

– Burial benefit of 20,000 pesos, given to the spouse or to the children (if spouse is already deceased)
– Survivors’ monthly pension or cash benefits to primary beneficiaries (legal spouse and minor children up to 5). If there are no spouse and children, death benefits are given to secondary beneficiaries.
– For members who died in the course of work or due to an occupational illness, additional Employee Compensation benefits are given to beneficiaries.
– Proceeds of compulsory and/or optional life insurance policies and/or educational policies and/or accident insurance policies for beneficiaries of members who participated in these optional programs.

Note:  GSIS has several retirement and life insurance options, kaya iba-iba ang pag-compute ng amounts of death benefits received by beneficiaries.

If you’re in the Muntinlupa area,  and you would like to purchase a St.  Peter Life Plan or St. Peter Memorial Plan, just make a comment below, and I’ll email you the name and cell phone no. of a St. Peter agent.  Sabi ng agent na ito, bibigyan daw ako ng referral fee or konting deduction sa monthly payment ko sa plan ko kung meron akong mai-refer.

Sa dami ng pre-need na naba-bankrupt, bakit ako nagre-refer ng memorial plan?  Baka sakali lang na naghahanap ka ng ganitong plan at meron kang tiwala sa St. Peter.  Hindi naman sila na-bankrupt noong kasagsagan ng pre-need collapse. At hindi naman sila focused sa pera, kundi sa memorial chapels, caskets at memorial services. Meron daw silang malawak na taniman ng mga trees (forgot the tree name) which they use to make caskets.

Hindi natin alam, baka ma-bankrupt din ang St. Peter, kung ma-mismanage (of course, hindi sana), pero nakita ko kasi yong hirap nang namatayan, kaya kumuha rin ako ng plan, para hindi mahirapan ang anak ko, lalo na at only child siya. Pero lagi kong ipinagdarasal na pahiramin pa ako ng Panginoon ng mahaba-habang buhay para mapagtapos ko pa siya sa college, at makatulong pa ako sa extended family members.

Death Benefits in the Philippines