Short answer. The Employees' Compensation Commission must decide an appealed case within twenty (20) working days from the submission of evidence, under Article 180 of the Labor Code. The clock starts when the evidence is actually submitted, not when the appeal is first filed, so how quickly you complete your submission affects how soon a decision is due.
What the law says
subject to appeal to the Commission, which shall decide appealed cases within twenty (20) working days from the submission of the evidence
Labor Code, Article 180 — Settlement Of Claims And Appeal. Read the full provision →
Where the deadline comes from
Article 180 of the Labor Code first gives the System -- the SSS for private-sector employees, the GSIS for government employees -- original and exclusive jurisdiction to settle disputes about coverage, entitlement to benefits, and the collection and payment of employees' compensation contributions and penalties. A party who disagrees with the System's ruling may appeal to the Employees' Compensation Commission, and it is at that appellate stage that the twenty working-day period applies: the Commission shall decide appealed cases within twenty (20) working days from the submission of the evidence.
When the twenty days actually starts running
The count begins from the submission of the evidence, not from the date the appeal is filed or the date the notice of appeal is received. If evidence is submitted piecemeal, or additional documents are filed after the initial appeal, the clock is tied to when the record is considered complete rather than to the calendar date the case was first elevated. Working days exclude weekends and official holidays, so twenty working days will normally span roughly four calendar weeks.
What kinds of disputes reach the Commission this way
The appeal route covers the same subject matter the System has original jurisdiction over: whether a worker or dependent is covered at all, whether a claimed benefit is actually payable, and disputes over the collection or payment of contributions and penalties, as well as any other matter related to those questions. Any of these can be the subject of an appeal that then falls under the twenty working-day rule once it reaches the Commission.
Why the timeline matters to a claimant
Employees' compensation claims typically involve a worker or surviving dependents waiting on income or medical benefits tied to a work-connected disability or death, so a fixed decision period gives a concrete point to track. If the twenty working-day period has clearly lapsed without a decision, that is worth raising directly with the Commission or documenting for whatever remedy the specific procedural rules allow, since the statute itself sets the expectation of a decision within that window rather than leaving it open-ended.