Arelle Valla

-

I hope you won’t need this sooner, but since death is inevitable, here it goes. This info can be useful for anyone you might know who’s family member died that might be an SSS member. My dad has been in and out of the hospital for the past 3-4 months since he was diagnosed of Aplastic Anemia in Feb 2006, and last May 18, 2006 he passed away at the NKTI - National Kidney and Transplant Institute http://nkti.gov.ph on his 11th day of confinement. This explains my long vacation from writing here. Interment was only this morning May 25 at the Forest Lawn in Rizal.

During the six (6) days wake at the St. Peter’s Chapel, one of of those who shared their time mourning with us informed us that we should immediately file a funeral benefit claim at the SSS before the interment. Because if we did it then, we can be released a check quickly, true enough, when we went to SSS to inquire of the claim, and supplied the necessary documentation, it was processed very efficiently and promptly.

We arrived at the SSS 9:30 AM May 24(yesterday) and lined to submit the requirements, got interviewed, original documents checked and once all were accomplished before lunch, we were given a 1/4 sheet of paper that says come back at 2:30P.M same day for the check. Awesome! We were not expecting it to be that fast, we commend SSS for having this benefit and providing a convenient and efficient service.

Documents they needed were the (1) Death Certificate issued from the City Hall, so make sure to file the Death Certificate quickly and this can be processed by the Memorial Service provider. (2) SSS I.D or Certificate (in my dad’s case its his Retirement Certificate) proving his SSS membership and eligibility for claims. (3) Marriage Contract of my Dad and Mom to prove that Mom is the beneficiary (4) Certification from the Memorial Service Provider (St. Peter issued us immediately upon request). (5) Valid I.D. of my Mom to prove she is who she claims she is.

Photocopy of all the above are necessary, and bringing of the ORIGINAL copies are required for cross matching and verification. Having two (2) photocopies of each document handy saved time.

Again, it is highly recommended that the SSS funeral claim be filed while the deceased SSS member is still at wake (before interment or burial) to get the check released asap, otherwise, it might take longer since the deceased has been buried and there is no rush in processing it.

The SSS Funeral Benefit claim is P 20,000.00. Our Funeral expenses is way higher than this amount but P20k is still P 20K and we are thankful for it, besides dad made 226 monthly payments with SSS, so might as well. We are using it to make a downpayment for another Memorial Service Plan as an investment, a wise one to make.

For more information on SSS Membership and Benefits visit http://sss.gov.ph