THERE are nagging issues today that have placed some government agencies in the line of fire. Why is this so? It is because they have apparently been dodging the clamor to do their mandated tasks of protecting the interest of the public.
First to receive the flak from the motoring sector is the Insurance Commission.
Open-minded observers stressed that if the agency continues to allow some insurance firms that had been previously identified as selling fake Compulsory Third Party Liability (CTPL) insurance, five million registered vehicles in the country are likely to fall victim to bogus coverage once more when they renew their registration in 2006.
Not only that. The government will be deprived of legitimate taxes because many premiums are being paid on fake CTPLs.
What is the bone of contention or worry of concerned groups in this particular aspect?
First, the Insurance Commission has proposed a clearing house where CTPL payments from motorists would be coursed through banks, a plan that it says will ease out fake insurers.
But the problem is the agency wants to join forces with private insurers and reinsurers in that clearing house. Some of them were reportedly involved in the fake CTPL racket before, and, in fact, are currently being investigated by the IC.
Some critics have likened this setup to an imaginary probe body composed of Comelec commissioners absolving Garcillano of any wrongdoing.
Moreover, they believe the proposed clearing house will only give a monopoly of the lucrative CTPL business to some favored insurance firms.
Commissioning the GSIS where services are well coordinated is viewed as the most setup to handle the enormous demands of CTPL by the motoring public. The GSIS intends to farm out 80 percent of the CTPL business to legitimate insurance companies. It will be the main guarantor of all policies. Something the clearing house scheme does not provide.
Further, under the GSIS proposal, banks will no longer be the conduit of payments, thus saving the government on fees charged by them. It will be the agency that will primarily be responsible in assuring public welfare and safety, obviously, to the insured and to the victim.
It will also be easier for the motoring public since a vehicle owner will pay relevant fees and taxes of his vehicle all at the LTO when he registers his unit. Thus, all payments due the government are safeguarded.
If the present system is maintained as proposed by the IC, the government will continue to lose millions of pesos in taxes which it would otherwise earn if the CTPLs were genuine.
In 2003, with 4.3 million vehicles registered, the insurance premiums would have been
R2.5 billion, with the government collecting R579 million in taxes, instead of just R310 million.
The government was cheated of
R268 million because insurance companies reported only R1.3 billion of what was actually R2.5 billion in CTPL premiums.
Meanwhile, here is another case where government agencies are reportedly dragging their feet in protecting the majority interest of government in a private corporation.
Well-meaning observers are saying the SEC is allegedly dilly-dallying in compelling the Philcomsat Holdings Corp. to call for a stockholders meeting this year that is about to end.
As it is, the only way individual stockholders will know what is happening to their corporation is when it holds an annual meeting. When? That is the big question.
The same observers explained that if PHC calls an annual meeting, it would certainly be a positive indication, a gesture of transparency.
Also mentioned is the Commission on Audit for it to take a look at PHC’s operations, the government being a major shareholder. CoA, they said, has all the reasons to look after the interest of the government in such private corporation.
A backgrounder: The government owns a big 28 percent in PHC, while it is also a major shareholder – 35 percent – in Philcomsat, which in turn owns a sizeable 81 percent of PHC.
