Philippines secures P1 trillion insurance cover vs calamities

MANILA, Philippines — In another move to ensure the government’s financial protection against natural disasters, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) has secured a P1 trillion indemnity insurance policy to provide coverage for public assets in times of calamities.

In an interview, National Treasurer Rosalia De Leon said the national government has tapped the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) for its National Indemnity Insurance Program to provide protection to 25-disaster prone provinces in the eastern seaboard of the country.

De Leon said the government paid a P2-billion premium for the insurance policy, which involves P1 trillion in total coverage.

“Part of the protection from natural calamities that we’re providing would be the indemnity program with GSIS. We have a P2 billion budget and we’re going to use it to be able to provide insurance for what we call strategically important assets, like schools, hospitals, roads, and bridges,” she said.

In a separate statement, the GSIS said its chairman and acting president, Rolando Macasaet and De Leon signed the memorandum of understanding for the insurance program last Nov. 14.

The GSIS said the program would ensure catastrophe risk insurance to roads and bridges constructed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and schools under the Department of Education (DepEd) for a period of one year.

De Leon also clarified that this insurance policy is different from the P20.49 billion parametric insurance coverage purchased by the government last year.

The government placed in December last year its Parametric Insurance Policy, which will enable 25 catastrophe-vulnerable provinces and the national government to act faster and respond better in times of natural calamities.

“The parametric (insurance) is quick disbursing. Once you hit the loss triggers, you get a payout immediately. For the indemnity (insurance), the (payout) is adjusted based on the loss. It would take some more time than the parametric,” the national treasurer said.