The Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. is now back under the supervision and control of the Department of Agriculture nearly three years after it was transferred to the Department of Finance.
“The PCIC is hereby attached to the DA for policy and program coordination,” said President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. in Executive Order 60.
PCIC was created in 1995 as a government-owned or -controlled corporation tasked to provide insurance protection to farmers against losses arising from natural disasters, plant diseases and pest infestation. The GOCC was originally attached to the DA.
In September 2021, former President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the transfer of the PCIC to DOF upon the recommendation of the Governance Commission for GOCCs to rationalize and centrally monitor the insurer’s operations as well as for policy and program coordination.
On May 13, 2024, President Marcos Jr. signed EO 60 returning PCIC under the wings of the DA, citing the need for “a strong organizational link between the PCIC and DA to enhance agricultural insurance protection programs highly responsive to the needs of small farmers and fisherfolk and other agricultural stakeholders, with policies and programs aimed at ensuring food security and modernization of agriculture.”
Even with its return to the DA, the chief executive deemed it wasn’t necessary for the agriculture secretary to get one of the seven seats on the board of PCIC. The seats of the secretary of finance and that of the Government Service Insurance System in the PCIC board were also removed.
The presidents of PCIC and Land Bank of the Philippines will keep their seats on the insurer’s board.
One board seat each is reserved for the Executive Director of the Agricultural Credit Policy Council of the DA and the representative of the private insurance industry, who will still be nominated by the DOF secretary.
Three board seats, instead of just one, were assigned to representatives of the subsistence farmers’ sector.
EO 60 said the appointment or designation of PCIC board chairman will have to follow rule under the GOCC Governance Act of 2011.
“We are pleased that the PCIC is back under the wings of the DA. This gives us the scope to assure farmers, livestock and poultry raisers, aquaculturists, and others in production side so we could shield them from losses that may be caused by disasters, pests and diseases,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. said.
He said the safety net provided by PCIC would hopefully encourage more Filipinos to engage in agriculture and create a new generation of farmers. ###
