Coop pioneers climate change insurance

CLIMBS Life and General Insurance Cooperative said it has P230 million in funds for agriculturerelated products affected by climate change.

CLIMBS President and Chief Operating Officer Noel Raboy said his company pioneered the weather protect insurance with an initial P230-million funding.

“At present, we have P230million funding for agri-related products being insured through weather protect insurance. We are monitoring the claim proceeds to ensure farmers can benefit from it,” Raboy said during the Coop Climate Summit 2022.

He added that CLIMBS is a federation of cooperatives around the country.

“Our head office is situated in Cagayan de Oro. It was organized by cooperatives way back in 1971, and part of the principle of the cooperative is concern for the community and concern for the community includes about how we can support our farmers,” Raboy added.

He said CLIMBS also aims to create awareness on the effects of climate change.

“Our role is to create awareness for our cooperatives and to help the government, but we need protection on that,” he added.

For his part, Manuel Cortina, Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. business development and marketing department officer in charge, said at least P900 million in insurance claim is expected to be given to farmers and fishers affected by Super Typhoon “Karding” and Severe Tropical Storm “Paeng,” including 53,000 farmers and fishers whose crops and produce were affected by Karding.

Cortina added that the agency is still processing claims for Paeng.

“For now, we have yet to come up with total amount amid the various typhoon that affected us. So far, for Karding, we are estimating more than P600-million indemnity for 53,000 farmers and fishers. Now for Paeng, we have estimated damage of P300 million. The processing of claims is ongoing. We are encouraging those who are insured to file their claims,” Cortina said.

He noted that the farmers and fisherfolk can receive from P9,000 to P20,000 in indemnity depending on the extent of the damage of their crops or produce.

“We have general assessment, randomly we conduct general assessment and the amount a farmer or fisher can get depends on our data ... If it’s a total loss, it is possible he can get the full amount of P20,000 indemnity,” Cortina explained.