The Philippines’ Insurance Commission (IC) has urged insurance companies to come up with products to cover losses and damages brought about by terrorism.
According to IC chief Dennis Funa, the Philippines is a “high-risk” country in terms of terrorism and this presents a need for insurers to develop insurance products that specifically cover losses caused by acts of terrorism.
“Terrorism is one of the major social issues in our country. Considering that terrorism is an indiscriminate attack, any person is exposed to the risk of incurring loss to life, limbs, and property,” Funa told Malaya. “This leaves a significant gap between the likelihood of terrorist attack and the risk we are exposed to upon the happening of such attack.”
The country is facing a long-running communist insurgency, as well as several Islamist disturbances, particularly in the southern island of Mindanao.
Funa explained that since the 2001 World Trade Centre attacks in New York, the global terrorism insurance market has grown by leaps and bounds. However, it was only quite recently that a product was introduced in the Philippines specifically dealing with terrorism.
So far, only FWD Insurance has a product that specifically covers the risk of terrorism, while other insurers’ products have exclusions for death and disability claims arising from terrorist attacks, he said.
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