A transport group on Sunday urged the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to review the “weaknesses” of its personal passenger accident insurance program which it said was inefficient in protecting the riding public.
“Recent accidents have tested the effectiveness of the PPAIP in meeting its twin objectives, and unfortunately, it has fallen short,” 1-United Transportasyon Koalisyon (1-Utak) president Vigor Mendoza II said in a two-page letter to the LTFRB.
Mendoza was referring to the program’s objectives to “assist passengers in case of accident by providing immediate financial assistance to defray accident-related expenses, and assist operators in case of an accident by providing immediate financial assistance to passengers so they need not rely on loan sharks or have to mortgage everything they own if only to address accident-related expenses.”
“The numerous accidents involving public utility vehicles have brought to the light certain weaknesses of LTFRB’s PPAIP, which we humbly request to be revisited in order to strengthen and ensure that the program meets its twin objectives,” he said.
Medical expenses and burial and funeral costs have increased, making the insurance cover “insufficient,” he said.
He called on LTFRB chairman Martin Delgra to make the insurance program more responsive to the changing times.
“Benefits in case of death must be increased to P400,000 in addition to burial and interment benefits of P100,000,” he said. Medical benefits, on the other hand, must be pegged at P100,000.
The transport leader added that a family allowance while in the hospital or during interment must be included as one of the benefits at P1,000 per day for up to 30 days in the case of hospitalization and seven days during interment.
Mendoza also appealed to Delgra to put in place a driver’s training fund of P25 per policy and a full scholarship for a four-year course to one of the deceased passenger’s children.
Insurance companies must be required to invest 50 percent of the funds derived from the program for transport modernization, he added.
