Lawmaker bats for 'Acts of God' coverage in comprehensive insurance

MANILA, Philippines –  A party-list lawmaker wants Congress to require “Acts of God” coverage in comprehensive insurance for motor vehicles and other properties.

“There’s an urgent need to amend the Insurance Code of the Philippines to ensure that natural disasters or fortuitous events are clearly enumerated in the coverage of comprehensive insurance,” Rep. Teodorico Haresco Jr of the party-list group Ang Kasangga said yesterday.

He said thousands of people could not collect on their insurance for billions of pesos worth of vehicles, appliances, equipment, and houses lost or destroyed during “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” and other destructive typhoons because their coverage did not include acts of God such as storms.

“The figures involved are just devastating to the victims and the economy,” he said.

Haresco has authored Bill 2672, which seeks to require the inclusion of acts of God in comprehensive insurance coverage.

He urged his colleagues to give priority to the measure.

Under this bill, no insurance coverage would be effective unless it includes acts of God such as floods, landslides, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and other natural calamities.

The Insurance Commission would be required to prescribe reasonable fees for such inclusions.

At present, motor vehicles and other assets are normally insured against third-party liability, own damage, theft, and fire.