|
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Ex-insurance office chief bares 'political vendetta' by some solons
"SOME administration congressmen asked for my head."
Thus said former Insurance Commission (IC) chief Benjamin Santos as he expressed dismay over the decision of the Department of Finance (DOF) to oust him from his post last October 5.
During the weekly "Kapihan as Sulo" forum Saturdsay, Santos said there are congressmen with connections to vehicle insurance companies who were affected by reforms that he implemented in the non-life insurance industry.
"When you apply rules, you cause pain. Maybe their business interests were hurt with my new policy," Santos added. Santos however refused to identify the congressmen concerned.
Santos earlier revealed an alleged irregularity in the vehicle insurance sector whereby the government has been deprived of at least P410 million in annual revenues. He asked the Senate to look into the alleged anomaly.
"This is behind politics. Our main duty is to protect the public," Santos added.
Santos said he tried to reform the insurance industry by upgrading the capital infusion of insurance companies to P50 million in order to prevent the proliferation of "fly-by-night" companies.
However, there are vehicle insurance companies that have insufficient capital to fund the existing Compulsory Third Party Liability (CTPL) policies of private car owners.
Santos accused the DOF of allegedly preventing him from implementing reforms in the non-life insurance sector.
"Maybe they didn't like the stricter measures we were implementing. These companies are not complying with regulations so we had to apply the rules to level the playing field," he said.
During Santos' stint in the IC, six vehicle insurance companies were shut down for failing to comply with regulations while 10 more were put on the IC watch-list.
Every year, insurance companies dealing with CTPL policies for private vehicle owners earn over P2.6 billion, of which P500 million should go to the government.
On the other hand, he disclosed that fake vehicle insurance policies were being sold to private vehicle owners for as low as P600.
That is why, Santos added, the IC is coordinating with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to stop the proliferation of fake insurance policies. (JPM/Sunnex)
(October 9, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
|
