Recent fatal road incidents involving trucks have prompted a lawmaker to file a House bill that seeks to give motorists and pedestrians a higher third-party liability insurance claim amount should they figure in an accident with a commercial vehicle.
Representative Wilbert Lee has filed House Bill No. 8498 (HB 4898), or ‘An Act Increasing the Compulsary 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.’
Lee recalled recent three truck accidents with fatalities, saying, “Ang masakit dito, nawalan ang mga pamilyang ito ng mga mahal sa buhay, tapos malalaman nila na P100,000 lang ang pwede nilang i-claim sa CTPLI at P15,000 sa no-fault indemnity.”
HB 4898 proposes increasing the amount of insurance claim under the no-fault indemnity provision based on the size of the commercial vehicle. For commercial vehicles with four or more wheels and with a gross vehicle weight of up to 4,500kg, the bill seeks to increase the amount from P15,000 to P1 million; for commercial vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of more than 4,500kg, it raises the claim to P2 million. The bill includes pedestrians and mobility-impaired persons using wheelchairs on or near a roadway among those who can claim insurance.
“There is a difference in the amount of insurance claim because the likelihood of an accident increases with the commercial motor vehicle size,” Lee said.
