House bill filed to raise TPL claim vs. commercial vehicles

Agri Party-List Rep. Wilbert Lee is working on a bill that will give motorists and passengers a higher claim amount after getting into an accident with a commercial vehicle.

House Bill 8498, or An Act Increasing the Compulsory Third Party Liability Insurance (CTPLI) for Commercial Vehicles and Total Indemnity Claim for Death or Injury of Any Passenger, Third Party, or Pedestrian without the Necessity of Proving Fault of Negligence was filed in the Lower House and not only increases the indemnity, but it also amends the Insurance Code to include pedestrians and mobility-impaired persons to the list of claimants.

“The news can inform us about these road tragedies, but they do not show how much families suffer because of these accidental deaths. Ang masakit dito, nawalan ang mga pamilyang ito ng mga mahal sa buhay, tapos malalaman nila na PHP100,000 lang ang pwede nilang i-claim sa CTPLI at PHP15,000 sa no-fault indemnity (What’s painful here, these families already lost a loved one, yet they’ll learn that they can only claim PHP100,000 for CTPLI and PHP15,000 for a no-fault indemnity),” said Rep. Lee.

Under the bill, the amount of insurance claim for death or injury per accident to any passenger, third party, or pedestrian without the necessity of proving fault or negligence goes up by 6,566% from PHP 15,000 to at least PHP 1 million for any four-wheeled or more commercial motor vehicles designed to transport goods/cargoes and/or persons, with gross vehicle weight (GVW) of up to 4,500 kilograms (kg); or PHP 2 million for any commercial motor vehicle designed to transport goods/cargoes and/or persons, with GVW of more than 4,500 kg.

“There is a difference in the amount of insurance claim because the likelihood of an accident increases with the commercial motor vehicle size," added Rep. Lee.