LTO pushes to make 'useless' CTPL relevant; seeks increase, immediate release of insurance payment in road accidents


For almost all motor vehicle owners, the Compulsory Third Party Liability (CTPL) is just something that needs to be paid just for the heck of complying with the requirement for motorcycle or car registration and renewal.

Some do not know what it does, and most motor vehicle owners do not even care. 

This mindset is something that Land Transportation Office (LTO) Assistant Secretary Vigor D. Mendoza wants to change by aggressively pushing for both the increase in the benefits of the insurance claimants, and the immediate release of the insurance claims.

In a press briefing at LTO Central Office in Quezon City on Wednesday, Jan. 29, Mendoza disclosed that he had been meeting with the top officials of the Insurance Commission for the implementation of the reforms in motor vehicle insurance that would pave the way for a change of mindset among the Filipino people who deem the CTPL as useless.

During the recent meeting held on Tuesday, Mendoza disclosed that there are two important measures that they are now working on with the Insurance Commission.

First is the need to increase the benefits under the CTPL in cases of motor vehicle accidents, and second, is the need to ensure that insurance payment are immediately released.

The CTPL

The CTPL is mandatory for all motor vehicles during the registration, and annual renewal of the motor vehicle registration at the LTO.  

This was listed as among the necessary requirements over cases of road accidents which are deemed as common in the Philippines, the reason is to provide financial protection to other people who would die or suffered injuries in vehicular accidents aside from the vehicle owners. 

But the CTPL does not cover neither the vehicle owner and vehicle passengers, or the damage to the vehicle. Its coverage is exclusive to the people, other than the vehicle owners and their passengers, involved in the car accidents like pedestrians.

Useless?

In the LTO press briefing, the insurance company of the truck that killed four people and injured more than 20 others at the Katipunan Flyover last month released a total of P200,000 as payment to the company that owns the truck.

The sad part is that the P200,000 released by the insurance company will be divided among the relatives of the four fatalities and the more than 20 people who were injured during the accident.

Mendoza said that the current benefit under CTPL is too small to even cover the basic burial, hospitalization and medical expenses. 

But long before the Katipunan Flyover accident, Mendoza is already pushing for the increase in the benefits, an advocacy which was supported by the transport groups themselves when they wrote a letter to the Insurance Commission last year for the increase in the CTPL benefits. 

In the letter, the transport groups said they want to have a fixed insurance payment for every death and injury—which means that the payment that would be released would no longer be divided among the victims. 

 “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,” said Mendoza.

“We want to change this perception among the motor vehicle owners, we want to make this relevant,” he added.

But Mendoza said that they want to come up with an acceptable solution to ensure that the increase in the benefits will not impact on the cost of the premium that it would reach the point that it is no longer affordable to ordinary motor vehicle owners.

He said said the proposal of Sen. Raffy Tulfo to include property damage in the CTPL was also included in the discussion. 

Timeliness 

The problem with the current system governing CTPL, according to Mendoza, is the turtle-pace release of the insurance payment. 

In some cases, it takes a year after the accident before the insurance payment is released and in the case of the Katipunan Flyover accident for instance, the P200,000 was released more than a month after the accident happened.

For Mendoza, time is of the essence in vehicular accidents since not all motorists have sufficient money to shell out in case of emergency like road accidents.

“When accidents happen, the immediate availability of assistance coming from the insurance provider is very important because timing is everything in any accident,” said Mendoza. 

When there are serious injuries, Mendoza said it is important that the victim would immediately be taken to the hospital so immediate assistance is needed. 

He said the immediate release of payment is essential since those involved in the accident would no longer be bothered as to where they would get the money for hospitalization. 

“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,” said Mendoza. 

Part of the solution on this matter, according to Mendoza, is coming up with a hotline wherein motorists could immediately call for insurance-related concerns in time of accidents.