The Insurance Commission — insurance industry protector

THE Insurance Commission turned 73 this year, and the celebration was held last April 1 at the Philippine International Convention Center. The event was attended by representatives from government and business. It was on Jan. 3, 1949 that the then Bureau of Banking, which supervised the insurance industry, was renamed as the Office of the Insurance Commissioner by virtue of Republic Act 275. In 1974, Presidential Decree 612 was promulgated, creating the Insurance Code of the Philippines. The code has undergone several revisions; the last one was on Aug. 15, 2013 when Republic Act 10607, also known as the Amended Insurance Code, was signed into law by then president Benigno Aquino 3rd. The code has covered all aspects of insurance supervision, including the provision for a progressive increase in the paid-up capital or net worth of the insurance companies every three years until 2022.

There have been 11 insurance commissioners since 1949, among them former senator Juan Ponce Enrile, lawyer Gregoria Cruz Arnaldo, whose tenure was the longest (1970-1985) and lawyer Eduardo Malinis, who served two terms (1995 to 2004; 2007 to 2010). Heretofore, the term of the insurance commissioners was determined by the president of the Philippines, but the Amended Insurance Code of 2013 now fixes the term to six years without reappointment. The present insurance commissioner is lawyer Dennis Funa.