EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 179 June 1, 1987

FURTHER AMENDING TITLE, II, BOOK FOUR OF THE LABOR CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES (PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 442, AS AMENDED)

WHEREAS, Paragraph (e) of Article 177 of Presidential Decree No. 442, as amended, provides among others that the Employees' Compensation Commission may upgrade benefits and add new ones, subject to approval of the President, provided that the actuarial stability of the State Insurance Fund shall be guaranteed; and that such increase in benefits shall not require any increases in contributions except as provided for in paragraph (b) thereof;

WHEREAS, under Executive Order No. 102, certain provisions of Republic Act No. 1161, as amended, otherwise known as the "Social Security Law" were further amended by increasing the sickness and funeral benefits and at the same time upgrading the monthly salary base contribution of employees compulsorily covered by the SSS;

WHEREAS, it is imperative that the sickness and funeral benefits allowable under the Employees' Compensation Program as well as the monthly salary base for computation of benefits shall likewise be increased to maintain the difference in benefits between work-connected contingencies and those that are not related to employment;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, CORAZON C. AQUINO, President of the Philippines, do hereby order:

Sec. 1. Paragraph (w) of Article 167 of Presidential Decree No. 442, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

"(w) "Wages" or Salary", insofar as they refer to the computation of benefits, means the monthly remuneration as defined in Republic Act No. 1161, as amended, for SSS and Presidential Decree No. 1146, as amended, for GSIS, respectively, except that part in excess of Three Thousand Pesos."

Sec. 2. Article 191 of Presidential Decree No. 442, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

"Art. 191. Temporarily total disability. (a) Under such regulations as the Commission may approve, any employee under this Title who sustains an injury or contracts sickness resulting in temporary total disability or fraction thereof be paid by the System an income benefit equivalent to ninety percent of his average daily salary credit, subject to the following conditions: the daily income benefits shall not be less than Ten Pesos nor more than Ninety pesos, nor paid for a continuous period longer than one hundred twenty days, except as otherwise provided for in the Rules, and the system shall be notified of the injury or sickness."

(b) The payment of such income benefit shall be in accordance with the regulations of the Commission.

Sec. 3. Paragraph (d) of Article 194 of Presidential Decree No. 442, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

"(d) Funeral Benefit. A funeral benefit of Three Thousand Pesos (P3,000.00) shall be paid upon the death of a covered employee or permanently totally disabled pensioner."

Sec. 4. The Employees' Compensation Commission shall issue such rules and regulations as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this Executive Order.

Sec. 5. All laws, orders, issuances, rules and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with this Executive Order are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

Sec. 6. This Executive Order shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 1st day of June, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven.