Third party joins CTPL fray

The fight between the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA) to get the P2.5-billion annual Compulsory Third Party Liability business is far from over, the insurance industry Spy-Ring reported. Both parties claim that they can solve the problem of insurance fraud that has been depriving government millions in unpaid taxes by crooked insurance companies. Finance Secretary Gary Teves, however, has turned down the GSIS proposal saying the CTPL business should stay in the private sector. PIRA, on the other hand, has reportedly been getting a lot of push from Insurance Commission (IC) chief Evangeline Escobillo whose "clearinghouse" scheme is being criticized for being a rehash of a failed "insurance pool" scheme in the 1980s. The PIRA proposal for car owners to pay premiums directly to banks has also raised howls of protest because it adds one more tedious step to the already laborious process of registering vehicles. Interestingly, what has escaped public attention is the existence of a third party, AIT Technology Inc., whose Road Accident Management Solutions Inc. or "RAMSI model" had previously been endorsed by the IC during the time of Commissioner Ben Santos as "superior in terms of practicality, ease of application, system security and public convenience." In short, it was the most workable and could definitely help solve the age-old problem of fake registrations that has been hounding the CTPL business. But when Escobillo took over as IC chief in October last year, she reportedly shot down the previous recommendations contained in two IC circular letters. Instead, she introduced her "clearinghouse" scheme believed to be nothing but a rehash of the PIRACO model proposed by the PIRA, which was deemed inferior to the RAMSI-AIT model. Escobillo, whose announcement that the LTO has adopted her proposed scheme had been swiftly denied by the Department of Transportation and Communications, is now the subject of a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman for grave abuse of discretion and for showing partiality to PIRACO. Also named respondents in the complaint are Herminia Jacinto of Universal Malayan and Ramon Dimacali of Federal Phoenix, who are both PIRA officers.

Post summit fireworks

After the principals agreed to disagree in a major political party’s recently-concluded summit, party insiders revealed that new black propaganda operations will be initiated on its founder. Soon after, operations will start on his legislative sidekick. The Spy-Ring cryptically said, "Expect fireworks." Now that the founder has been isolated because of his stance, his party mates plan to vilify him to strip him of credibility. The plan is to further isolate him. Some party members suggest that the leadership just ignore him because he is an elder member. They don’t feel it is right to destroy him. At any rate, politicians should bear in mind an old Bengali proverb: A cornered tiger can be more dangerous than a well-fed one.

Marring the pre-need industry

a recent letter to Congressman Jaime C. Lopez, chairman of the House committee on banks and financial intermediaries, former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Perfecto R. Yasay Jr. stated that it was then Secretary of Trade and Industry, now Sen. Manuel "Mar" A. Roxas III who was responsible for requesting the USAID to fund the study proposal for a new method of computing the pre-need companies’ liabilities. Known as the Actuarial Reserve Liability (ARL), the former DTI Secretary referred the study to then SEC Chairpersons Lilia A. Bautista for arbitrary implementation. Meanwhile, the good Senator Roxas has been passionately defending the rights of 19 planholders of the College Assurance Plan (CAP) who filed a class suit which was not given due course by the Makati Regional Trial Court. The complainants represent .00002 percent of the total 720,000 CAP plan holders. Pre-need insiders have long suspected that the marring of the pre-need industry through the ARL is part of a conspiracy initiated by a US-based insurance company with a local representative office that wants a big slice of the P200-billion pre-need industry.

Spy tidbiz: Holding out for more?

The continuing saga at the Equitable PCI Bank (EPCI) is that the bottom line for the rejection by GSIS head Winston Garcia and EPCI chairman Ferdinand Martin Romualdez of Banco de Oro’s (BDO) share swap offer is they want to increase the bottom line. Apparently, the 1.6:1 swap ratio or 1.6 BDO shares for every EPCI share would have translated to a price between P43 and P53, which is decidedly much lower than EPCI’s closing price of P63 per share when the offer was made. Expect a lot of haggling to be made in the process.

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