On the P50 Million Rice Loan Program for the Sugar Workers Pursuant to LOI 1452

May 22, 1985

LETTER OF IMPLEMENTATION NO. 154

ON THE P50 MILLION RICE LOAN PROGRAM FOR THE SUGAR WORKERS PURSUANT TO LOI 1452

I. COVERAGE

This Program shall cover:

(a) Sugar workers in the mills and plantations who are duly registered with the SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM: and cdll

(b) Sugar workers who, by reason of the itinerant and ambulant nature of their employment, which is peculiar to the sugar industry, may not yet be duly registered with the SSS, provided that their names appear in the Special Payrolls for the Crop Year 1983-84, as beneficiaries of the Social Amelioration Program, provided for under PD 621, as amended.

However, all sugar workers who have applied for emergency loans under LOI 1403 and LOImp. 150 shall no longer be considered entitled to the rice loan pursuant to LOI 1452.

II. WHO MAY APPLY

The following are hereby considered authorized applicants under this Program:

(a) Employers, such as Sugar Planters, Sugar Planters Associations or Cooperative, Sugar Millers, Sugar Millers' Associations or Cooperative for and on behalf of their own workers, or the workers of their own members;

(b) Duly registered Labor Unions, Cooperative or Associations of Sugar Workers for and on behalf of the workers they represent.

III. INTEREST RATE

The rice loan granted under these implementing guidelines shall bear a simple interest of FIVE PERCENT (5%) a year. No service fee shall be charged.

IV. PROCEDURE

In the application for rice loan, the following procedure shall be followed:

(a) Applications in three (3) copies shall be filed at the Regional office of the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MOLE).

(b) The application shall be accompanied by the following requirements:

(i) Master list of workers, whether registered with the SSS or not, who need the rice loan and for whom the application is made. For those workers registered with SSS, the list should include their SSS I.D. numbers.

(ii) Group check-off, authorization based on the workers' wages and cost of living allowances to be signed by the covered workers.

(iii) Undertaking of guarantee for the loan by the applicant.

(c) The MOLE Regional Office shall issue a certification that the names of the workers in the Master List appear as beneficiaries of the Social Amelioration Program under PD 621 as amended, for the Crop Year 1983-84.

(d) The MOLE Regional Office shall forward the application to the Provincial or Regional Office of the SSS for evaluation and approval.

(e) The applicant may apply for a loan equivalent to not more than three (3) sacks of rice of fifty (50) kilos per sack per sugar worker who is head of the family to be released at the rate of one (1) sack of rice a month.

(f) Upon approval of the rice loan by the SSS, shall immediately issue to the applicant an Authorization to Withdraw the indicated quantity and amount of rice involved from the National Food Authority (NFA).

(g) Upon receipt of the Authorization to Withdraw from the SSS, the NFA shall deliver to the applicant or his authorized representative, the quantity of rice as the authorization duly indicates.

(h) The NFA shall bill the SSS immediately upon delivery of the stocks to the applicants. The SSS shall pay the NFA the corresponding amount of stock delivered within a reasonable period of time.

V. REPAYMENT SCHEME

The applicant shall remit payment to the SSS Main office or to any authorized collecting bank of the SSS on the basis of the amount received, as a result of the check-off from the workers wages and allowances.

VI. MONITORING

The Provincial Task Force shall submit a monthly report on the implementation of this program to the Chairman of the National Task Force of which copies are to be furnished the Employers' Compensation Commission (ECC), the SSS, the NFA and the Bureau of Rural Workers (RRW), MOLE.

VII. OTHER IMPLEMENTING GUIDELINES

Further implementing guidelines whenever necessary and appropriate shall be issued by the ECC in consultation with the SSS and other implementing agencies. LexLib