Santiago Ciau Sr. Refutes SSB’s Line of Events

It has been less than a week since Santiago Ciau Junior was laid to rest following a long battle with a debilitating bone condition. As previously reported, Ciau retired in March 2023 due to medical unfitness resulting from a workplace injury in 2009. After numerous doctor visits, he was diagnosed with avascular necrosis, which caused him to miss work for extended periods. Ciau reportedly faced repeated denials for invalidity benefits from the Social Security Board (S.S.B.). Despite his appeals, he said he received a late notification, which prevented him from making a timely second appeal. On Thursday, the Social Security Board issued a statement clarifying “key facts” in Ciau’s case. Today, News Five spoke with Santiago Ciau Senior, who refuted the line of events that the press release stated.

 

Santiago Ciau Sr., Father

“On the 30th of November, my son told me, “Dad, I just got a call from social,” that was in the afternoon. It was a Thursday. It was in the afternoon. Almost 3 o’clock. He said they got a letter for me at the front desk in Social Security. I tell him, man, Let’s go pick it up tomorrow morning, which was the 1st of December, a Friday. And I took him. And when he receives a letter, and we open the letter, this is the letter that we receive. See the date. How in the world can we appeal when they give us this letter? They call him five days after the expiration date. Yes, according to the letter. But we did not receive this. We should have received this letter so that we could have appealed before the 25th of November. We received this letter; the call came the 30th, and when we picked up this letter on the 1st of December, which was a Friday, that is when we realised that it was the result of the appeal that was addressed to the attorney. How can we appeal? and then that get my son depressed and frustrated. He said, “But how can I appear when they don’t expire?”