THE Land Transportation Office (LTO), in close coordination with the Insurance Commission, is pushing for aggressive policy reforms on motor vehicle insurance, particularly increased benefits from the Comprehensive Third Party Liability (CTPL).
LTO chief Vigor Mendoza II said Insurance Commission head Reynaldo Regalado agreed that there was an urgent need for policy reforms, especially after a traffic accident on the Katipunan flyover in Quezon City last month that left four people dead and over 20 others injured.
Mendoza said they discussed about the long period of time before the insurance claims on CTPL could be released.
In most cases, Mendoza said motorists do not even bother to check on their CTPL in cases of accidents.
However, the vehicle owners still believed that the CTPL they are paying for as a requirement for vehicle registration and renewal was useless.
“The common belief is that this CTPL is useless. We already came to the point that this is being taken for granted, which means motor vehicle owners are paying for it simply because it is a requirement for motor vehicle registration and renewal,” Mendoza noted.
“Under the guidance of our Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, we want to change this perception among the motor vehicle owners, we want to make this relevant,” he said.
According to the LTO chief, two important matters were discussed — the need to increase the benefits in cases of motor vehicle accidents and increase in the benefits which would not impact on the cost of the premium; that it would reach a point where it is no longer affordable to ordinary motor vehicle owners.
In the case of the Katipunan flyover incident mishap, only P200,000 was released for all the victims, meaning the amount would be divided among the four people who died and the more than 20 others who were injured.
The amount is too small to cover the necessary expenses for the fatalities and the hospitalization and medication for those who suffered serious injuries, Mendoza said.
Pasang Masda president Robert Martin said they already sent a letter to the Insurance Commission last year to call for the increase of benefits under CTPL.
Another important matter that was discussed was the timeliness of the release of the insurance payment.
“When accidents happen, ang laking tulong kapag may agad agad na assistance coming from the insurance provider kase timing is everything sa aksidente. It is important that the victim be brought to a hospital. That is why there must be immediate assistance,” Mendoza said.
“So this is what we are trying to fix by reviewing the existing policies in order to further improve it with the end goal of immediate release of assistance from insurance providers,” he added.
Part of the solution on this matter is to come up with a hotline wherein motorists could immediately call for insurance-related concerns in time of accidents.