Benefits of orphaned families of NCC mall fire victims released: SSS

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MANILA — The death and funeral benefits of the 38 that perished in the NCCC mall fire in Davao City have been released to the victims’ beneficiaries, the Social Security System (SSS) said Thursday.

SSS has paid PHP862,606.15 worth of funeral grant to all the bereaved families and PHP2.14 million worth of death benefits to beneficiaries on March 14, Wednesday.

SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Dooc said the benefits amounted to almost PHP3 million. He said the money would aid the beneficiaries since most of the victims in the fire were breadwinners of the family.

“SSS hopes that with the release of death and funeral benefits, we were able to help them provide a decent funeral for their loved ones, as well as give them support to their everyday needs,” Dooc said in a statement.

The agency’s records showed that 37 of the deceased members were employees of Survey Sampling International and the other one was an NCCC Mall employee. All of them were qualified to death and funeral benefits as per SSS Davao office’s initial evaluation.