Quezon City Government Grants Personal Accident Insurance for Tricycle Drivers, Passengers

Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista has reportedly signed Ordinance 2768 which grants personal accident insurance for tricycle drivers and their passengers.

"Tricycles are used for short-distance travels, but we cannot disregard the fact that these vehicles get into accidents as well. Mga ordinaryong manggagawa ang karaniwang sumasakay nito kaya iniisip namin, paano nila tutustusan ang kanilang sarili kung sila ay naaksidente? (Ordinary workers are its usual passengers. Hence, we were thinking, how can they spend cope if they met an accident)," said Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, the presiding officer of the Quezon City Council, in an interview with the media yesterday, January 15.

"Now that we have an ordinance for this, the city government can help fund the insurance for our tricycle drivers, including their passengers," she added.

Under the ordinance, if a tricycle driver or a passenger gets into an accident, the insurance will provide compensation ranging from PHP7,500 to PHP50,000 to the victims depending on the severity of the damage/injury acquired such as death, disablement, limb amputations, loss of sight, hearing, and speech; including the loss of thumb or the index finger.

"The city government will subsidize 50 percent of the total amount of the insurance program for its first-year implementation, while the other 50 percent will be shouldered by the tricycle operators," the measure read.

To fund the program, the city government has allocated PHP20 million.