Ten-year prescriptive period set for re-adjudicating retirement, disability and death claims
Members seeking to have their settled retirement, death or disability claims with the Social Secuirty System (SSS) re-adjudicated or re-evaluated have up to ten (10) years to file their requests. This prescriptive period also applies for petitions contesting settled claims before the Social Security Commission (SSC).
This 10-year prescriptive period, detailed in the new SSS Office Order Number 2015-005, aims to eliminate problems in the validation of submitted documents, since the retention period of claim records is limited to 10 years only, per Article 1144 of the New Civil Code of the Philippines.
Pursuant to SSC Resolution Number 10-19279-10, the reckoning point for the 10-year prescriptive period depends on when the claim was originally settled. For claims settled before March 1, 2006, the 10-year prescriptive period will start on the said date. For claims settled on or after March 1, 2006, the prescriptive period will start on the initial settlement date of the retirement, disability or death claim.
March 1, 2006 was the effectivity date of SSS Office Order Number 208-P, which first set a 10-year prescriptive period for the re-adjudication of settled retirement, death or disability claims. Office Order 208-P has since been superseded by newer guidelines to clarify the reckoning point of the ten-year prescriptive period.
There are exceptions to the 10-year prescriptive period, however, primarily for cases wherein the reason for benefit adjustment is not due to the fault or oversight of the member or claimant. Thus, the 10-year prescriptive period will not be applied in cases such as unposted contributions and additional credited years of service, payment for additional dependents (if SSS failed to include the dependents in the initial payment of benefit), change in the date of the contingency, and other cases not attributable to member/claimant.
The prescriptive period will also not apply for claims needing re-adjudication due to a change of guardian of the member or dependent, emancipation or death of dependents, re-marriage of spouse but with dependents under his/her custody, resumption of monthly pension that was supended due to non-compliance with the Annual Confirmation of Pensioners, and payment of withheld shares for co-claimants in the death benefit.
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