Insurance claims payments up in 2010

MANILA, Philippines –  Insurance claims paid by the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. last year reached P245.504 million, the highest in PCIC’s 30-year history.

In a report to Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala, PCIC president Jovy C. Bernabe said their payments in 2009 reached only P210 million.

Last year, farmers were   hit in succession by a drought and then by Typhoon Juan, Bernabe said, adding that the insurance claims payment, would enable them to recover and restart their farms.

Bernabe reported that last year, the PCIC was able to provide insurance protection to P5.95 billion worth of agricultural investments, 13 percent higher than the P5.2 billion coverage in 2009.

Last year, the PCIC said, it extended insurance cover to 88,843 rice farmers; 8595 corn farmers and 1,131 farmers from the high-value crop (HVC) sector.

Additionally, the PCIC reported, it also provided insurance protection to 46,173 heads of livestocks and P1.421 billion worth of agricultural assets.

Meanwhile, Alcala has ordered PCIC to reduce the needed days to process a claim from the current 15 to 19 days to just seven to 10 days.