Robinsons Fuente Cebu sponsors forum on Kasambahay Law July 13, 2013

Robinsons Fuente hosted a forum on the Kasambahay Law, inviting representatives from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), the Social Security System (SSS) and the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG) as discussants.

Chief social insurance officer Maria Cristina C. Ramos talked about PhilHealth's existing policies involving household helps as employees and their household employers—explaining the registration procedures and requirements, the premium rate, the benefits available to members, and when and how they can avail themselves of these benefits.

Under PhilHealth’s existing policies, household helps are considered employees—hence, part of the Employed Sector Program which compulsorily covers those employed in both the private and government sectors with a 50 percent employer counterpart in the monthly premium.

There is a difference, however, in the application of the contribution schedule for household helps whose monthly wage is below P5,000. The 50 percent sharing scheme between employer and employee will not be applied, pursuant to the Kasambahay Law. As such, the full monthly premium will be shouldered entirely by the employer. The lowest premium rate now for employees—those with a monthly salary of below P8,000—is P175 per month.

Household employers must remit the premium of their kasambahays every 10th of the month and submit the corresponding remittance report every 15th of the month.

Ms. Ramos also talked about the planned unified registration for household helps and employers set towards the end of July. The unified registration activity is expected to be participated by the three key government agencies providing social protection.

Robinsons Fuente recently launched its Lingkod Pinoy Center which offers government and other services to its clientele, among which is the PhilHealth Express—PhilHealth’s innovative approach to bringing government services closer to the people by strategically making basic frontline services available at vital traffic hubs like malls and shopping centers.

Robinsons Fuente PhilHealth Express is open Monday to Friday at 10:00 in the morning to 7:00 in the evening. It provides services such as processing of applications for membership or registration, requests for correction or amendment of member information, and issuance of Member Data Records (MDR) and PhilHealth IDs.

A PhilHealth Express is also located inside Ayala Center Cebu, SM City Cebu, J Centre Mall, Pacific Mall, Island City Mall (Tagbilaran) and Robinsons Place (Dumaguete). END