MANILA - The Department of Finance said Tuesday the Social Security System has so far approved P15.63 billion in COVID-19 calamity assistance loans as of July 28.

The state-run pension fund has also approved P190.02 million in unemployment insurance benefits from July 1 to 27 this year, to tide over workers hit hard by the pandemic's economic fallout, according to the DOF.

SSS president and CEO Aurora Cruz Ignacio said they have approved more than 1 million applications for calamity assistance due to the COVID-19 pandemic since its online filing was launched last June 15.

The pension fund started accepting applications for COVID-19 calamity loans in June, and will halt the program on Sept. 14. Online applications for the loans are now mandatory, it said.

The COVID-19 calamity loan carries a 6 percent interest per annum commencing on the 4th month with a 27-month term, inclusive of a 3-month moratorium.

SSS members who were laid off can avail of unemployment insurance equal to half their average monthly salary for two months.

To qualify for the jobless benefit, SSS members should have paid for three years the requisite minimum number of monthly contributions, 12 of which should have been made in the 18-month period immediately preceding the month of involuntary separation.