Four children who were excited to go to a religious youth camp, and a young couple who were supposed to have quality family time with their toddler, a two-year old boy who miraculously survived inside their wrecked car.

Theirs, along with four others who were crushed to death at the SCTEX toll plaza accident, is a tragic story about what happens when drivers would not listen to the oft-repeated warnings and reminders on road safety. They happen every time, and in the case of the Philippines according to the United Nations data, around 32 people die every day due to road accidents.

But their tragic story does not end there since while each of the 33 injured bus passengers are entitled to P100,000 insurance payment—and a maximum of P400,000 in case of death for each of the fatality—non-public utility vehicle passengers such as pedestrians and the 10 people who died in the SCTEX accident do not have the same privilege based on existing road accident insurance rules.

In the statement issued by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) chairman Teofilo Guadiz III after the SCTEX accident, he said he instructed the Passenger Accident Management and Insurance Agency (PAMI) to immediately process and release insurance claims for victims.

“I instructed PAMI to immediately address the needs of those who are involved in the road crash. They should start identifying the dead bodies and indemnify the families—Php 400,000 for each deceased passenger,” Guadiz said in the statement.

But in the same LTFRB statement, it said “For non-passengers—such as pedestrians or occupants of other vehicles—the maximum indemnity is an aggregate amount of P200,000 to be divided among all affected individuals.

This means that the 10 people who died in the SCTEX crash are not entitled to P400,000 claim as they were classified as  “occupants of other vehicles” and, therefore, only entitled to a maximum of P200,000 insurance payment--"to be divided among all affected individuals"

This is what pisses off transport leaders like Alliance of Transport Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines (ALTODAP) Boy Vargas who have been advocating for fair insurance payment, especially under the  Compulsory Third Party Liability (CTPL) that motorists must pay for every motor vehicle registration and renewal transactions.

Vargas said this is not the first time they heard of this unfair policy, citing the case of the Katipunan Flyover road accident in December last year wherein four people died and at least 25 others were injured when a truck rammed motorcycles and private vehicles.

He said the insurance payment released was only P200,000 and that this amount was divided among the four fatalities and 25 injured victims.

Vargas then appealed to President Marcos to address the issue by instructing the Insurance Commission to take the lead in the effort of making the insurance payment fair, which he said would benefit millions of road users.

The transport leader extended the same appeal to Department of Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon: “Kami sa transport sector ay natutuwa dahil sa napakabilis na aksyon ni Secretary Dizon sa mga transport-related issues. Umaasa kami sa ilalim ng kanyang liderato ay mapansin at matugunan ang isyung ito n matagal na naming ipinaglalaban. (We in the transport sector  are happy of the quick action of Secretary Dizon on transport-related issues. We hope that under his leadership, he would take a look at this and address our advocacy.”

Another concern raised by Altodap and other transport groups, according to him, is to come up with a new policy wherein the release of the insurance payment in cases of road accident should be done as fast as possible.

He said that in the case of the Katipunan Flyover accident, it took days before the insurance payment was released.

Vargas said the Katipunan Flyover accident and the recent STEX fatal road accident are but a wake-up call for the national government to act on the concerns of the road users.