THE House Committee on Ways and Means approved last Monday the unnumbered substitute bill seeking to increase the authorized capital stock of the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) from P2 billion to P10 billion.
House Committee on Economic Affairs Chairman and AAMBIS-OWA Party-list Rep. Sharon S. Garin said they believe that increasing PCIC’s capital stock will help mobilize the assistance granted to small farmers and fishermen and cater to their needs more effectively.
According to Garin, a strengthened PCIC can further protect the interest of farmers and fishermen by providing them insurance protection against losses and help stabilize the income of agricultural producers. Garin, one of the key proponents of the measure, didn’t cite the losses in this sector.
Under the bill (“Revised Charter of the PCIC”), the PCIC is mandated to insure properties and facilities of the government used in agriculture-fishery-forestry projects, including reinsurance coverage underwritten by private and government insurance companies.
Garin said a new provision creating a “reserve fund” for catastrophic losses amounting to P500 million has been incorporated in the bill to cover for the proportion of all losses in excess of risk or pure premium under the PCIC’s crop insurance program for small farmers and fishermen.
The bill also mandates the extension of reinsurance coverage to weather index-based insurance and reinsurance for palay and corn crops, high-value commercial crops, livestock, aquaculture and fishery products, agroforestry crops and forest plantations.
A key provision in the bill will also enable the PCIC to extend life and accident insurance coverage for farmers, fishermen and their dependents, according to Garin.
“Agricultural insurance is a government program that provides insurance protection to agricultural producers against loss of their crops, livestock and agricultural assets on account of natural calamities, plant pests and disease or other perils,” Garin said. “The PCIC is directly responsible for its implementation.”
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