Section 10
SECTION 10. Paragraph (a) of Section 14 of Republic Act No. 1161 is hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC. 14. Sickness benefit.—(a) A covered employee who has paid at least three monthly contributions in the twelve-month period immediately preceding the semester of sickness and is confined for more than three days in a hospital or elsewhere with the Commission's approval, shall for each day of compensable confinement or fraction thereof be paid by his employer, of the SSS, if such person is unemployed, an allowance equivalent to eighty-five percent of his average daily salary credit, subject to the following conditions: "(1) In no case shall the total amount of such daily allowance be less than four pesos nor exceed twenty pesos nor paid longer than one hundred twenty days in one calendar year; nor shall any unused portion of the one hundred twenty days of sickness benefit granted under this section be carried forward and added to the total number of compensable days allowable in the subsequent year; "(2) No employee shall be paid any sickness benefit for more than two hundred forty days on account of the same confinement; and "(3) The employee shall notify his employer of the fact of his sickness or injury within five calendar days after the start of his confinement unless such confinement is in a hospital or the employee became sick or was injured while working or within the premises of the employer in which case notification to the employer is not necessary: Provided, That if the member is unemployed he shall directly notify the SSS of his confinement within five calendar days after the start thereof unless such confinement is in a hospital in which case notification is also not necessary: Provided, further, That in cases where notification is necessary, the confinement shall be deemed to have started not earlier than the fifth day immediately preceding the date of notification."