SSS officials violated Anti-Red Tape Act

On June 30, 2009, the Court of Appeals decided in CA-GR No. 104470 that SSS member Rodolfo M. Cunanan is entitled to the EC Permanent Total Disability benefit under Presidential Decree No. 626, as amended. Article 173 of PD 626 provides: “xxx The payment of compensation under this title shall not bar the recovery of benefits as provided for in Republic Act No. Eleven Hundred Sixty-One (RA 1161 as amended), SS law, RA 8282… and other laws whose benefits are administered by the System (SSS) or by other agencies of the government (as amended by PD 1921).”

I was retrenched and forced into retirement on July 21, 1997, because of a work-related lumbar injury. My partial injury benefit was converted into permanent total disability by operation of law, effective upon my retirement on July 21, 1997. I was granted SSS retirement benefits in January 2010 at age 60. However, my SSS permanent total disability from July 1997 to December 2009 remains outstanding despite several verbal and written pleadings, 12 and a half years after the favorable decision rendered by the Court of Appeals in my favor.

Malacañang may need to react to this serious matter pursuant to Section 5 of the

Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007.

—RODOLFO M. CUNANAN,

Social Security System member,

Bo. ZIT, Central Barangay,

2301 San Miguel, Tarlac