President Marcos has pitched to increase the insurance payment coverage for private motor vehicles to as high as the coverage given to public utility vehicles (PUVs), a Cabinet official bared.

A day after Malacañang said that Marcos ordered the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to study the proposal to increase the insurance payment coverage for private motor vehicles in cases of road crash involving PUVs, Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon disclosed that the President is actually aiming to level the insurance coverage for both private and public cars.

"[A]ng panawagan ng Pangulo itaas nang todo ang insurance, ang pagkakaalam ko e, itapat ang insurance sa pribado doon sa PUV (The President's call is to ultimately increase the insurance for private cars and level it to PUVs)," Dizon said in an interview on Thursday, May 15.

The Transportation chief said it was a good proposal and they will push for it, especially after the recent spate of fatal road accidents in the country.

"Tingin ko napakagandang ideya po niyan at yan po ang pipilitin nating magawa. At kakausapin natin ang LTO at LTFRB na kailangan i-impose natin yan, lalung-lalo na ngayon kita natin sa dami ng mga aksidente and marami sa mga aksidente, PUV (In my opinion, that is a very good idea and we will try to do it. And we will tell the Land Transportation Office and Land Transportation Regulatory and Franchising Board that it needs to be imposed, especially with the spate of road accidents now)," Dizon said.

Dizon acknowledged that in order to impose the higher insurance coverage, they need to consult the entire transport industry, stressing that the move will require bus and other PUV companies to pay for higher premium insurance.

"Ngayon titingnan natin paano yung pwedeng gawin diyan at anong mga regulasyon ang pwede. Pero ang sabi ng Pangulo, nag-a-agree tayo sa sinabi ng Pangulo, yan ang utos ng Pangulo kaya gagawin natin (Now, we will see how we can do this and the related regulations. But that's what the President said, we agree with it, that's his order, we will comply to it)," Dizon said.

"Walang libre sa mundo, 'di ba? Kailangan may magbabayad kung mataas ang premium. So kailangan ibalanse natin 'yan pero titingnan natin ang kakayahan ng mga operator, ng mga bus company para i-absorb yan (There is nothing free in this world. There has to be someone to pay a high premium. So, we need to balance  that, but we have to check the capability of the operators, bus companies to absorb that)," he added.

While the Cabinet official cannot say how soon a decision will be make over the proposal, he said they are aiming to make progress this year.

Marcos was urged by a transport group to adopt the insurance system for PUVs to that of private motor vehicles in order to ensure fair benefits claims in cases of death and permanent disability.

The Alliance of Transport Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines (Altodap) stressed that passengers of private vehicles are at a significant disadvantage under current regulations.

Based on the existing PUV insurance policy under the Passenger Personal Accident Insurance (PPAI), bus and other PUV passengers are entitled to a maximum of P400,000 for each of the fatalities in cases of road crashes and P100,000 each in cases of injuries.

Altodap said that is not the case for passengers of private motor vehicles since they are only entitled to a maximum of P200,000—to be divided among all the victims.