Protecting against losses

Author: Benedict F. Baluyut

Published at: Monday, September 3, 2012 on Business Mirror

IT has been wet and rainy for a couple of days now and not seeing much sunshine.

A few weeks after the devastation brought about by recent typhoon Helen and monsoon rains (“hanging habagat”) that major portions of the Luzon area and Metro Manila were severely affected. People are slowly recovering from the recent disasters that pummeled the island of Luzon and affected the populace. As I remember back then, it has been raining very hard and almost all day. Everything happening on those days was grounded to a halt with floods affecting the flow of traffic, schools and business establishments temporarily closed and people worried on their lives and properties on what to do next and how to get on their previous life on track again.

Floods, typhoons and other disasters

MANY of the known areas where flooded and a great majority of people got stuck in their second floor of their homes or at their rooftops for those living in bungalows. Local government units have mostly declared their municipalities, cities and provinces under state of calamity. These provinces and major cities are located in flood map areas of the country. It was good that the population and the government are prepared from these disasters in which Typhoon Ondoy served as a lesson for most of us and a basis on what things may come in the future with the rapid climate change and destruction, depletion of our natural resources and improper waste segregation and management in which we the ordinary people should be aware of.

Major government and non-government agencies come prepared and gone along way on their risk reduction and disaster management operation in the recent calamities after 2009 with faster response time. There have been some problems encountered during rescue and evacuation but still people living in the flood hazards zone are resilient and instead stay behind on their homes because they have sentimental value of the things they are going to leave behind and were just asking for relief goods other opted to temporarily evacuate on higher grounds or shelters provided by the local government units.

Typhoon Ondoy caused damage to property estimated at P6 billion, including P4.1 billion in damage to infrastructure, P1.9 billion in damage to schools, and P882.525 million in damage to agriculture. Typhoon Helen and the southwest monsoon caused damage of more than P3 billion worth of infrastructure and agricultural loss, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) in September 2009 and August 2012 reports.

Our country, the Philippines, is no exception to natural and manmade disasters because it sits on the center path of major tropical storms coming in from the Western Pacific Ocean and more than 20 or so typhoons can come across our archipelago in a year and so the need for Non-life and life insurance is greatly needed in such times of need.

What are non-life insurance and life insurance?

To give you a brief background on life and non-life insurance, non-life insurance is defined as insurance for property and casualty and is specialized on different categories in order to customize the needs of the policyholder.

Many non-life insurance companies can give different package from fortuitous events such Fire insurance to other allied peril insurance such as flood /typhoon, earthquake in which these are specialized insurance products. They can also have extended coverage from burglary, valuable items protection, riot, smoke, and others that are offered from these non-life insurance. Sometimes these non-life insurance providers can also include life insurances package such as hospitalization, personal accident, and personal liability for those who avail this.

Life insurance provides a monetary benefit to a decedent’s family or other designated beneficiary, and may specifically provide for income to an insured person’s family, burial, funeral and other final expenses.

People think that insurance is just a waste of money but in can work a lot of ways of helping the policyholders in which insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. Insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss.

Other types of insurances are crop and livestock insurance (agricultural / aquaculture), motor vehicle insurance, mortgage redemption insurances (real estate) and many others.

Life and non-life Insurance can both work hand in hand and could be a useful tool in protecting yourself against unfortunate events such as what happened a few weeks ago.

In choosing the right Insurances for your needs, the providing company must be registered and abide by the rules and regulation set forth by the Insurance Commission of the Philippines. The Insurance Commission’s mandate is to regulate and supervise the insurance industry in accordance with the provisions of the Insurance Code in order to ensure that adequate insurance protection is available to the public at a fair and reasonable cost and to assure the financial stability of the insurance industry so that all legitimate claims of the insuring public are met promptly and equitably.

For those interested to avail of insurance, you can check out the website of the Insurance Commission if the insurance companies offering you are legitimate and also to better shop around and research first for the ideal insurance products that fits your need before selecting and deciding the right one for you.

Amidst the hardships and anxiety, resiliency and the “bayanihan” spirit still exists

It proves that “The Filipino spirit is waterproof” as what was circulated in the social media networks like Twitter and Facebook two weeks ago. The resiliency and spirit of helping others have been seen among ordinary citizens who are willing to risk their lives for others. The fortunate souls who were not affected were able to give the affected and those in need the help and relief with their unwavering support and gracious hearts.

It was also a time even in these disasters that people of various walks of life affected from this tragedy have high hopes and still learn to smile and be happy in order to cope up with the extremes weather condition we are experiencing and eventually triumph from it.

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