CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu provincial government is looking into establishing a self-insurance coverage system for Capitol and local government officials and employees.
The decision to pursue the self-insurance came about after Governor Gwendolyn Garcia noted that the Capitol’s current insurance arrangement with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) resulted in disproportionately low claims compared to premiums paid by the province.
According to the Capitol’s official news network, Sugbo News, only a fraction of the claims for infrastructure damages caused by Supertyphoon Odette in 2021 was honored by GSIS, that prompted the Garcia to seek an alternative approach.
Capitol’s self-insurance system covers accident and life insurance. This will be for the Capitol employees, as well as members of the Provincial Board; the mayors, vice mayors, and councilors of all municipalities and component cities of the province; and barangay captains, barangay councilors, treasurers, and secretaries.
It will also include volunteer barangay workers, such as barangay health workers, barangay nutrition scholars, lupon tagapamayapa, tanod, GAD focal persons, day care workers, and traffic enforcers in the province’s over 1,000 barangays.
This also hopes to provide coverage for teaching and non-teaching personnel of the Department of Education-Cebu Province, presidents of Parent-Teacher Associations in DepEd Cebu Province, as well as the canyoneering guides in Badian and Alegria.
Gov. Gwen Garcia already met with Atty. Terence Vanessa Tomol, OIC of the Insurance Commission (IC) Cebu District Office, late last month to discuss the matter.
Garcia consulted the IC official in particular about the requisites for the establishment of a dedicated division under the Provincial General Services Office to oversee the self-insurance initiative. This said division will also be led by an experienced insurance expert.
Tomol accordingly lauded the Capitol for such proposal saying the Cebu Province is the first LGU in the country to have made such initiative and noted that with Cebu Province, the country’s richest province, this can be done.
Atty. Tomol also bared the requirements set by IC being the regulatory body that governs private insurance companies in the country and answered other queries from Garcia and her consultants.
Governor Garcia will seek for the authorization from the Provincial Board by way of an ordinance in order to legitimize the program – another of Cebu’s groundbreaking initiative.