Always a first

MANILA, Philippines - The Insular Life Assurance Company, Ltd. may sound like a multinational insurance company, but it is as Pinoy as adobo and bagoong and halo-halo. Born during the American colonial period, Insular Life was the Manny Pacquiao of the insurance world: a local insurance company slugging it out amongst the best foreign competition in the country. And, after a hundred years of slugging it out with the big boys, Insular Life has proved that it can not only survive, but more importantly, that it can thrive in the highly competitive life insurance industry.   

Channeling the spirit of Insular Life is Marietta C. Gorrez, the senior vice president and head of the Business Support Group of Insular Life, who shares with us the many ‘firsts’ of the company over the past hundred years and how the company plans to celebrate its centennial with a bang.

Do you remember the first time?

PHILSTAR: As a company, Insular Life has lived through many interesting period in our country’s history – from the American colonial period to World War II to the Japanese occupation to the Second Philippine Republic to the Marcos Years to the Post-ESDA years up to today. If we were to watch an audio-visual presentation of your life, what would you consider your greatest milestones?

Our first milestone was the establishment of Insular Life (IL) in 1910, which was the first Filipino life insurance company that was set to compete with the other more established foreign life insurance companies. Twenty- one years later, IL occupied its own building on Plaza Moraga, which was the tallest commercial building in the best commercial and office district in Manila at that time.  

Impressive, so you literally towered above the rest of your competitors.

Then in 1934, IL became the first Filipino insurance company to operate in a foreign country when it opened its Honolulu, Hawaii branch.

And so we can say that IL was one of the first Pinoy multinationals as well! But with the outbreak of the World War II and Manila being under siege, did IL have to temporarily cease operations?

Quite the opposite, we continued operations despite the war. This earned IL the distinction of being the life insurance company with the longest unbroken service record.

You were quite the tenacious company.

In fact, in 1934, Insular Life even assumed the business written by Filipinas Life Assurance Company. The company even honored its pre-war and occupation commitments in 1945, which resulted in huge losses for the company by the war’s end. If you think about it, we could have very conveniently declared bankruptcy and the company’s owners could have afterwards opened a new company to start afresh. But realizing the damage such an action would have inflicted on the public’s faith in the insurance industry, IL chose to continue operations.

Now that’s palabra de honor. And I understand that you were one of the first to establish an insurance training school in the county?

IL established the training school way back in 1952. We were also the first insurance company, in 1954, to lower its premiums. And we also assumed the peso business written by Occidental Life Insurance Co. of California in one of the biggest transactions in the insurance industry.

And your record of firsts in the local insurance company doesn’t end there. 

Yes. In 1958, IL first introduced industrial life in the county. And in 1960, when the company celebrated its Golden Jubilee with a total business in-force of P500 million, we declared our first post-war cash dividend to stockholders.

And you were just half a century old at that time. My, how time flies. Aside from meeting your corporate objectives, I understand that IL pursued its own philanthropic objectives as well.

That’s right. The Insular Life Educational Foundation (ILEF) was established incidentally in 1962. The ILEF is now the Insular Life Foundation, Inc. (ILF) which administers a college scholarship program for deserving youth.

I’m sure IL was not one to rest on its laurels after celebrating fifty years in business. How did you build on your efforts over the next half-century?

For starters, the IL offices transferred in 1963 to its building in Makati. 

Which has become an icon in the Makati landscape every since. I fondly remember watching many great plays by Repertory Philippines in the Insular Life theatre. 

Then, in 1977, IL embarked on a mass marketing strategy, which was an innovative concept in the marketing of life insurance in the Philippines.

Another first for IL yet again.

But 1987 was a true milestone for us as we became a fully-mutual company. As a mutual company, the owners of Insular Life are not a few stockholders, but each and every person who owns a life insurance policy.

So anybody who owned a policy of IL could have said that he was also a part owner of the company.

Yes (Laughs). In 1990, IL expanded its range of financial services to offer clients, to include a health care company, an investment bank, a non-life insurance company, and a savings bank.

I see you didn’t even slow down in your old age. 

The last 10 years saw several milestones for the company. In 2001, we transferred to our new headquarter, the IL Corporate Centre in Alabang, Muntinlupa City. In 2004 was another one of our firsts: IL’s net income reached P1.06 billion, making it the first Filipino life insurance company to break the billion peso mark. Then finally, in 2006, IL’s assets reached the P50 billion mark.

I can’t wait to what kind of milestones you reach when you hit the ripe old age of two hundred.

Party like there’s a tomorrow

It is truly rare for a company — especially a Philippine company — to turn a century old (or, in your case, a century young). So that can only mean one of three things: Party! Party! Party! What are your plans to celebrate your centennial and are we invited?

The celebration is really a thanksgiving to all those who have helped Insular reach its one hundred years. First and foremost are the hundreds and thousand of policyholders who have given their trust to Insular. Second, to the employees and agents who have totally adopted the company’s mission as their own - to help our fellow Filipinos live a more secure future through the benefits of life insurance.   We highlight our centenary to bring home the message that the business of life insurance is for the long term. When looking for a life insurance company, people should look for a company that has a track record of consistently fulfilling its obligations to its policyholders. 

And what do you have in store for the loyal policyholders who have put their trust in the first Filipino life insurance company?

For our policyholders, we shall be launching the CASHandog Centennial Edition Raffle Promo. Every Insular Life policyholder who submits his or her updated customer information to us will be entitled to raffle prizes in the daily, weekly, monthly, and grand raffle draw. Every month, starting January up to October, 2010, Insular will give away P100,000 to the lucky policyholder responded to the promo. The grand draw on November 25, 2010 will make one policyholder a happy millionaire as he or she will win P1 million!  

Huwow! So if any of your policyholders read about this promo from this column, do I get a referral fee?

(Laughs.) Two other major events being worked on these days are in the field of music and entertainment.

You IL guys sure know how to party.

On November 25, 2010, which is the actual One hundredth year celebration, Insular Life will premier an original musical whose working title is “A Promise Well Kept”, which will ingeniously trace and relive the history of the company over the past 100 years. The concept may sound strange and may even give birth to the question if a company’s hundred years could be interesting enough to be told via song and dance in a two-hour presentation.

It’s not too strange given that IL was a patron of the arts. After all, your Makati office was home to Repertory Philippines for many, many years. 

The only way to find out will be to wait for opening night and be entertained and see what the company went through, both victories and defeats, in song and dance. And beyond the entertainment factor, it is hoped that the musical will make us proud that we are Filipinos.

And since we Filipinos are world-class performers, I can’t wait until I catch this performance in Broadway (and I’m not referring to the one in New Manila)!

Another source of pride that we would like to propagate is in the field of music, as this is also an area that gives evidence to the richness of the Filipino culture. For Filipinos who are fifty years old and younger, they are probably no longer familiar with the beautiful masterpieces of our great Kundiman composers, such as Francisco Santiago, Nicanor Abelardo, and others.

Naku, I was absent from music class that day.

To celebrate IL’s centennial is to celebrate our Filipino heritage. A commemorative Centennial CD is being worked out to preserve selected Kundimans, albiet with new arrangement. With these new arrangements, we hope to awaken this rich part of our heritage through fresh approaches in arrangements that will appeal to the modern ear. But, at the same, without disrespecting the original intent of these masters and giving them their due honor. IL hopes that, with these new arrangements, the Filipino will recognize how rich our heritage is in this type of music, so uniquely Filipino.

Mabuhay ang Insular Life! I never realized how supportive IL was of our local arts. As you mentioned earlier in the inteview, IL was also deeply involved in education?

One of IL’s main advocacies is to improve the quality of our education. For our centennial we shall be producing story books for children with the aim of encouraging our young people to develop a habit for reading. The story will be imbued with Filipino values including responsible stewardship of money, because as a financial institution, IL would like to inculcate even among the very young the right values when it comes to money. 

Those books would make for some great adult reading as well.

On top of the story books, substantial resources will also be allocated for the donation of computer sets to public high schools, and together with the equipment will be the training on computer literacy which our own employees will volunteer to do.

STAR QUALITY

Does Insular have anything in store for your loyal Philippine Star readers in line with the centennial? We also want to be part of the celebration.

Philippine Star has been IL’s partners for many years now. One of our partnerships with the Star is on the common advocacy to promote a higher level of awareness on the importance of sound financial management through savings, investments and life insurance. This advocacy is being done through Wilson Lee-Flores’ weekly Bull Market Bull Sheet, which comes out every Monday. IL executives answer questions on financial matters sent in by the many readers of Wilson. This way, we are gradually educating our readers on financial matters. We have received a lot of inquiries on the best way to invest their money or to prepare for retirement. We also receive interesting questions such as: Why should I buy life insurance and leave too much money for my three kids, when I think one big reason I’m successful was because I’ve led a difficult life and struggled? Can a mistress be a beneficiary of a life insurance policy? Can my girlfriend or a future mother-in-law or just anyone buy life insurance for me, then have me killed if they badly need or just want to get the big insurance money? How can movie stars be encourage to do financial planning than spending?

Hmm, before those questions can be answered though, I’m sure the people asking those questions will need life insurance as well.

Second is with the annual search for The Outstanding Filipinos (TOFIL), a project of Insular Life and the JCI Senate Philippines. The TOFIL honors outstanding Filipinos who have excelled in their profession and in doing so have contributed much to uplifting the lives of their fellow Filipinos. Philippine Star is the project’s media partner since 2002 and they have helped us tremendously in calling attention to this exemplary Filipinos so that their works will be known and emulated.

Here’s to the next hundred years!