ILOILO – The Iloilo provincial government partnered with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) to expedite aid for farmers affected by calamities such as the El Niño phenomenon.
Launched on Tuesday, March 5, at the Governor’s Board Room of the provincial capitol, the Sustainable Insurance of the Government for Upscaling and Revitalizing the Agricultural Development and Opportunities (SIGURADO) program aims to provide bigger assistance through crop insurance to farmers affected by El Niño, La Niña, typhoon, and fest infestation, among others.
The provincial government headed by Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. allocated and turned over a check worth P15 million to the PCIC as initial funding for the implementation of the program.
Defensor said the provincial government is ready to augment P10 million more from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) in case the initial budget is insufficient.
Under the program, the Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO) will facilitate the registration of farmers who are not included in the PCIC’s Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA).
The program will provide insurance premium of P2,000 to each recipient farmers or fisherfolks who could eventually avail themselves of financial assistance as much as P20,000 if they suffer from losses resulting from calamities which include El Niño.
“Ang SIGURADO program, we are partnering with PCIC, ang aton government crop insurance system. For the province, this is frontline strategy sa El Niño, nagaproblema kita sa tubig kag nagakaapektohan ang aton mga mangungoma,” Defensor said in an interview with Panay News.
Why frontline strategy?
Defensor explained that every year the provincial government allots a budget for assistance to farmers who could be affected by calamities.
But, for it to be systematic and to add value to the financial assistance program for farmers and fisherfolk, the provincial government partnered with PCIC so that they could avail of more benefits under the program.
“Mas daku ang benepisyo sang mangungoma nga ginabuligan naton kon ang ila insurance system halin sa gobyerno kaysa mahatag kita sang tag-isa isa nga insurance nga gina-validate pa kag madugay sia,” said Defensor.
He added: “So, mas maayo in terms or process and benefits para sa aton mga mangungoma and we are happy to collaborate with the PCIC. Again, this is the frontline strategy sang province para makabulig kita sa aton mga mangugoma nga nagakaapektohan sang El Niño.”
Through the SIGURADO program, a declaration of state of calamity is no longer needed to provide assistance to farmers affected by calamities because they are already insured.
The governor further assured the continuous implementation of SIGURADO program as it is already embedded in PAO programs for farmers.
Meanwhile, PAO chief Dr. Ildefonso Toledo confirmed that El Niño-hit farmers who are RSBSA-registered can now avail themselves of the insurance.
He said farmers could coordinate with the Municipal Agriculture Officers (MAOs) in order to avail of the assistance.
As of March 4, Toledo said affected rice farmers in the province reached 8,504.
Here is the breakdown per town: Tigbauan (424), Oton (631), Tubungan (780), Anilao (1,176), San Enrique (181), Cabatuan (1,023), Barotac Nuevo (937), Miag-ao (87), Mina (353), Dingle (110), Dumangas (1,489), Igbaras (42), Banate (504), Zarraga (12), San Miguel (125), and Carles (630).
Toledo added that aside from rice farmers, also covered under the SIGURADO program are corn and other high value crop farmers and fisherfolk, among others.
Based on SIGURADO program’s rationale, its goal is “to increase access to crop insurance products and provide insurance to farmer beneficiaries during implementation of different PAO programs.”
Programs mechanics and guidelines:
* The provincial government of Iloilo will sign a memorandum of agreement with PCIC to specify the role of each party.
* The provincial government will provide budget under Republic Act No. 10121, Section 21 or any fund source and will be downloaded to PCICI as trust fund for insurance premium payment.
* The PAO will identify the municipalities/city to avail crop insurance program of the province of Iloilo based on the list of program beneficiary of PAO and that is not covered by any PCIC crop insurance program from other agencies.
* The number of beneficiaries per municipality/city will be based on the actual beneficiaries who availed the program under PAO and beneficiaries of other agencies who are covered by PCIC.
* The beneficiaries could avail insurance coverage based on computation and guidelines set by PCIC under their mandate as insurance provider.
*The PAO will secure a list of borrowers (LOB) from PCIC that corresponds to the beneficiaries of the municipalities/city for review and consolidation. The LOB will be proof that beneficiaries listed are the recipients of the insurance program from the province.
* Recipient municipality will monitor their beneficiaries and facilitate reporting of damaged to PCIC in times of calamities that is covered by the insurance policy.
* PCIC will facilitate all insurance claims from the beneficiaries of the recipient municipality and provide indemnity claims that qualifies the insurance guidelines.
* The PAO will monitor the insurance fund utilization by requiring PCIC to submit monthly insurance fund allocation report.
* PCIC will continue to insure the beneficiaries of recipient municipality until the insurance fund is replenished or consumed.
“Provision of additional insurance access to the agricultural sector will boost the province mitigation support to address climate change related threats. This measure will strengthen the agriculture sector’s resiliency toward calamities that has greatly affected the province economy,” PAO said./PN
