Short answer. Article 294 directed the Secretary of Labor to fold maternity leave benefits into the Social Security System for private-sector workers and the Government Service Insurance System for public-sector workers, which is why maternity benefit claims are filed with SSS or GSIS rather than paid directly out of pocket by the employer.
What the law says
the integration of maternity leave benefits into the Social Security System, in the case of private employment
Labor Code, Article 294 — Integrating Maternity Leave Benefits. Read the full provision →
What the law says
the Government Service Insurance System, in the case of public employment.
Labor Code, Article 294 — Integrating Maternity Leave Benefits. Read the full provision →
A one-time directive from 1974
Article 294 is a transitory provision dating from when the Labor Code first took effect. It gave the Secretary of Labor a six-month window to begin folding maternity leave benefits into an existing social insurance system, rather than leaving maternity pay as a benefit an employer simply hands over from its own funds whenever the need arises. The choice to route the benefit through an established insurance system, instead of creating a brand-new program from scratch, shaped how maternity claims are still processed today.
Private employment routes through SSS, public employment through GSIS
The article draws a clear line between two systems depending on who employs the worker. For private employment, the relevant system named in the text is the Social Security System. For public employment, it is the Government Service Insurance System. Both systems, not the individual employer, were designated as the channel through which the benefit is meant to reach the worker, each covering its own sector of the workforce.
Why the employer isn't the one paying the claim
This explains a question many employees ask when a maternity claim is delayed or disputed: why isn't the employer simply paying the benefit directly out of company funds? Under the framework this article set up, the employer's ordinary role is to remit contributions and process supporting paperwork, while the actual maternity benefit is administered and disbursed through the applicable social insurance system, private or government, that this article named as the integration point for that purpose. A worker whose claim stalls is generally dealing with the insurance system's own processing, not a decision the employer made on its own about whether to pay.
What this article does not cover
Article 294 only set the direction for integration; it did not itself fix the amount, duration, or eligibility rules for maternity leave. Those details were left to be worked out through the Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System themselves, and through later social legislation that built on this initial integration. Anyone checking their actual current entitlement should look at their present SSS or GSIS maternity benefit rules rather than at this article's text alone, since this provision only describes the original directive to connect the two systems, not the schedule of benefits that eventually resulted from it. That distinction matters practically, since a worker relying on this article alone would learn only that integration was directed, not how many weeks of paid leave the eventual benefit provides or what documentation a claim requires.