THE INSURANCE Commission (IC) has partnered with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) to provide free legal assistance to the public for issues with claims from insurance, pre-need and health maintenance organization (HMO) products.
The IC and IBP signed the memorandum of agreement (MoA) on Monday to make the partnership official, the IC said in a statement on Tuesday.
Under the partnership, the public will be provided legal assistance, including consultation, and representation during mediation, conciliation, and adjudication proceedings.
The IC said it will focus on the marginalized and less privileged sector.
The regulator will endorse a complainant to the IBP for free legal services after they have been informed of the available legal remedies to enforce their claims.
“IBP shall then provide legal services, subject to the application of a means and merit test and to the availability of volunteer legal aid lawyers,” the IC said.
“The agreement, however, does not preclude filing of requests for assistance and formal adjudication cases even without a lawyer, as IC standard procedures already provide for the filing of requests and complaints even without the assistance of counsel,” it added.
The regulator resolved all 5,417 informal complaints received from the insuring public last year.
The complaints were resolved either through amicable settlement between the complainants and the corresponding IC-regulated entities, or through endorsement of the complaints for formal adjudication.
The number of complaints resolved in 2023 was higher by 7.8% from the 5,025 complaints seen in 2022. — Aaron Michael C. Sy