LTFRB: Families of Cotabato truck-van collision victims to get up to P200K insurance claims

The families of the victims of the collision between a dump truck and a public utility van in Antipas, Cotabato will receive insurance indemnification of up to P200,000, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said Wednesday.

“We have already notified the consortium of insurance companies for passenger accident insurance,” LTFRB chairman Teofilo Guadiz III said at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.

“Dalawa lang po ‘yun sa buong Pilipinas [There are just two of them in the whole Philippines]… PAMI (Passenger Accident Management and Insurance Agency) and SCCI (SCCI Management and Insurance Agency Corp.). Sila ang ang humahawak ng passenger accident insurance [They’re the ones managing the passenger accident insurance],” Guadiz said.

The LTFRB chief said that passengers, regardless who is at fault, are “automatically indemnified a certain amount of up to P200,000.”

Guadiz said representatives of the insurance firms are already on their way to Cotabato to distribute the indemnification to kin of the victims.

At least 17 people died when a dump truck —carrying a load gravel— collided with the passenger van on Monday in Antipas, Cotabato.

The collision resulted in the utility van catching fire, leading to the death of the passengers who were engulfed in flames.

Guadiz said the van was a legitimate PUV, meaning it has a franchise as a public transport thus the victims are covered by passenger accident insurance.

“It is the insurance company that automatically pays the victims regardless of who is at fault,” the LTFRB chief said. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News