60,000 to lose jobs with GSIS monopoly of car insurance

MANILA, Philippines – More than 60,000 insurance agents will lose their jobs once the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) takes over from private insurers the task of providing compulsory third party liability (CTPL) insurance to vehicles being registered.

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) is expected to implement the system in two weeks.

“We are just working on the procedures on how this will be done,” LTO chief Alberto Suansing said.

Salvador “Buddy” Navidad, president of the Bukluran ng mga Manggagawa sa Industriya ng Seguro (BMIS), asked President Arroyo to stop the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) from implementing DOTC Order No. 2007-28 which transfers the function of providing CTPL to the GSIS from small private insurers.

“The implementation of DOTC Order 207-28 goes against President Arroyo’s job creation program. Giving the GSIS the monopoly in the CTPL insurance business would result in thousands losing their jobs and their families going hungry in these times of rising prices of oil and commodities,” Navidad told The STAR.

The BMIS staged an indignation rally at the DOTC head office at the Columbia Tower in Mandaluyong City last Thursday.

Navidad said there are 67 private insurance companies involved in the CTPL business.

He said GSIS’s monopoly of the business would be disadvantageous to vehicle owners.

“Who will motor vehicle owners turn to when they have problems with their claims? Are they supposed to go to the GSIS complaints department that is notorious for being inaccessible to the millions of government employees and retirees who have problems with their salary loans and benefits and their pensions?” Navidad asked.

GSIS is independent of the Insurance Commission (IC), which regulates the private insurance industry.

Also protesting the new DOTC order is the Alliance of Concerned Transport Organizations or ACTO.

Efren de Luna, ACTO president, said the current system is efficient enough and that doing away with it might only complicate matters for vehicle owners.

Securing a CTPL certificate of coverage is a prerequisite to the registration of motor vehicles along with a smoke emission test. CTPL provides coverage of up to P100,000 for death and injury to third parties involved in accidents.

LTO defends new system

Suansing defended the system, saying the government wants to ensure that accident victims get proper treatment.

He also said the new system will facilitate vehicle registration as well as eliminate middlemen and fixers.

“We have to work on the collection of premium payments, tax collection that will go to the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) and other details,” he said.

The DOTC, IC, LTO and GSIS are still drafting the guidelines on the implementation of the new system, which is also designed to lower the cost of vehicle registration.

Under the scheme, private vehicle owners will each save P325; owners of utility vehicles, P375; light trucks, P355; and motorcycles P85.

“After the MOA signing, we need to craft rules on what we signed.  The rules will be out this week and full implementation will start by next week. Right now, there is a pilot test of the system to see how the whole thing works,” Suansing said.

Under the MOA, the GSIS will accredit re-insurance companies to which it will farm out the task of providing CTPLs. Under the setup, the GSIS will be able to screen and weed out fly-by-night insurance companies so that only legitimate insurance providers with proven track records will be able to provide CTPL, Suansing said.

Complaints regarding fake CTPLs have swamped the government since the system’s inception in the 1980s.

At present, two of every three CTPLs sold to the public are of spurious nature.

From 2000 to 2007, 39.7 million vehicles were registered, but only about 17 million held valid CTPLs.

The new system is also expected to be more convenient as the issuance of CTPL will be made right inside the LTO office.

Thus, there would be no more need for vehicle owners to buy CTPLs first from private firms before registering their vehicles with the LTO.

The LTO itself will process the CTPL requirements of vehicles being registered, thus cutting red tape.

And with the LTO itself taking payments for the CTPL, the remittance of the premiums to the GSIS and its partner firms – including the taxes on the premiums due to the government – becomes automatic. – With Mary Ann Reyes and Perseus Echeminada