“We are bringing the good news to your province”, said Antonio S. Uy III, Assistant Vice President (AVP) of Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) as he approached Governor Johnny T. Pimentel during his courtesy call recently at Provincial Governor’s Office, Capitol Hills, Telaje here.AVP Uy, introduced to the governor the subsidy program of PCIC amounting to P1,183,177,000 appropriated herein as subsidy for the PCIC and shall be used exclusively for the full cost of insurance premiums of subsistence farmers and fisherfolks for any of the following types of insurance; crop, livelihood, fisheries, non-crop agricultural asset, provided that the PCIC shall ensure that the said subsistence farmers and fisherfolks are registered under Registry System on Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) and are not receiving any other subsidy for the foregoing types of insurance from the local government.According to AVP Uy, there were 95,000 farmers and fisherfolks registered in the data bank of RSBSA of PCIC in the province of Surigao del Sur. It means lot of them will be benefitted with this subsidy program.“Insurance for free? That’s a real good news”, Governor Pimentel uttered. “The province of Surigao del Sur is prone to typhoons and other calamities, therefore, it is an ideal approach if their crops, livestock, etc. will be insured”, he added.Marcos M. Quico, Provincial Agriculturist (PA) also commended and willing to adhere such requirements and assistance to PCIC if they need support in any matters involving the program.He added that, Crops Division in the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist already prepared a complete listing of these identified farmers and ready for validation.With governor Pimentel’s marching order, the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist headed Quico, will promptly validate and submit the listing before end of the year for possible funding accommodation from PCIC.The governor also urged PA Quico to coordinate with the Municipal Agriculturist to hasten up the process.There were two provinces tapped by PCIC regarding the program, Agusan del Sur is the other one in which around 105,000 farmers and fisherfolks listed in RSBSA. These two provinces were having the most number of registered possible beneficiaries, emphasized by Manuel Cortina, PCIC staff assigned to handle these two provinces. He also added, that it is also allowed having multiple insurances for farmers with multiple commodity, no limitations as long as it follows with the rules and guidelines.At exactly 5:00 in the afternoon, AVP Uy and company departed the province with great expectations to meet the target before December 31, 2014 as date of deadline for the submission of the aforementioned farmers and fisherfolks listing.

Source - http://news.pia.gov.ph/