REPUBLIC ACT NO.

10607

AN ACT STRENGTHENING THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY, FURTHER
AMENDING PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 612, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS
"THE INSURANCE CODE", AS AMENDED BY PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NOS.
1141, 1280, 1455, 1460, 1814 AND 1981, AND BATAS PAMBANSA BLG. 874,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

Section 1. Presidential Decree No. 612, as amended, is hereby further amended
to read as follows:

"GENERAL PROVISIONS
"Section 1. This Decree shall be known as The Insurance Code.

"Section 2. Whenever used in this Code, the following terms shall have the
respective meanings hereinafter set forth or indicated, unless the context
otherwise requires:

"(a) A contract of insurance is an agreement whereby one undertakes for a
consideration to indemnify another against loss, damage or liability arising from
an unknown or contingent event.

"A contract of suretyship shall be deemed to be an insurance contract, within the
meaning of this Code, only if made by a surety who or which, as such, is doing
an insurance business as hereinafter provided.

"(b) The term doing an insurance business or transacting an insurance business,
within the meaning of this Code, shall include:

"(1) Making or proposing to make, as insurer, any insurance contract;

"(2) Making or proposing to make, as surety, any contract of suretyship as a
vocation and not as merely incidental to any other legitimate business or activity
of the surety;

"(3) Doing any kind of business, including a reinsurance business, specifically
recognized as constituting the doing of an insurance business within the meaning
of this Code;

"(4) Doing or proposing to do any business in substance equivalent to any of the
foregoing in a manner designed to evade the provisions of this Code.

"In the application of the provisions of this Code, the fact that no profit is derived
from the making of insurance contracts, agreements or transactions or that no
separate or direct consideration is received therefor, shall not be deemed
conclusive to show that the making thereof does not constitute the doing or
transacting of an insurance business.

"(c) As used in this Code, the term Commissioner means the Insurance
Commissioner.

"CHAPTER I
"THE CONTRACT OF INSURANCE
"TITLE 1 "WHAT MAY BE INSURED

"Section 3. Any contingent or unknown event, whether past or future, which may
damnify a person having an insurable interest, or create a liability against him,
may be insured against, subject to the provisions of this chapter.

"The consent of the spouse is not necessary for the validity of an insurance
policy taken out by a married person on his or her life or that of his or her
children.

"All rights, title and interest in the policy of insurance taken out by an original
owner on the life or health of the person insured shall automatically vest in the
latter upon the death of the original owner, unless otherwise provided for in the
policy.

"Section 4. The preceding section does not authorize an insurance for or against
the drawing of any lottery, or for or against any chance or ticket in a lottery
drawing a prize.

"Section 5. All kinds of insurance are subject to the provisions of this chapter so
far as the provisions can apply.

"TITLE 2 "PARTIES TO THE CONTRACT

"Section 6. Every corporation, partnership, or association, duly authorized to
transact insurance business as elsewhere provided in this Code, may be an
insurer.

"Section 7. Anyone except a public enemy may be insured.

"Section 8. Unless the policy otherwise provides, where a mortgagor of property
effects insurance in his own name providing that the loss shall be payable to the
mortgagee, or assigns a policy of insurance to a mortgagee, the insurance is
deemed to be upon the interest of the mortgagor, who does not cease to be a
party to the original contract, and any act of his, prior to the loss, which would
otherwise avoid the insurance, will have the same effect, although the property is
in the hands of the mortgagee, but any act which, under the contract of
insurance, is to be performed by the mortgagor, may be performed by the
mortgagee therein named, with the same effect as if it had been performed by
the mortgagor.

"Section 9. If an insurer assents to the transfer of an insurance from a mortgagor
to a mortgagee, and, at the time of his assent, imposes further obligations on the
assignee, making a new contract with him, the acts of the mortgagor cannot
affect the rights of said assignee.

"TITLE 3
"INSURABLE INTEREST

"Section 10. Every person has an insurable interest in the life and health:

"(a) Of himself, of his spouse and of his children;

"(b) Of any person on whom he depends wholly or in part for education or
support, or in whom he has a pecuniary interest;

"(c) Of any person under a legal obligation to him for the payment of money, or
respecting property or services, of which death or illness might delay or prevent
the performance; and

"(d) Of any person upon whose life any estate or interest vested in him depends.

"Section 11. The insured shall have the right to change the beneficiary he
designated in the policy, unless he has expressly waived this right in said policy.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event the insured does not change the
beneficiary during his lifetime, the designation shall be deemed irrevocable.

"Section 12. The interest of a beneficiary in a life insurance policy shall be
forfeited when the beneficiary is the principal, accomplice, or accessory in
willfully bringing about the death of the insured. In such a case, the share
forfeited shall pass on to the other beneficiaries, unless otherwise disqualified. In
the absence of other beneficiaries, the proceeds shall be paid in accordance with
the policy contract. If the policy contract is silent, the proceeds shall be paid to
the estate of the insured.

"Section 13. Every interest in property, whether real or personal, or any relation
thereto, or liability in respect thereof, of such nature that a contemplated peril
might directly damnify the insured, is an insurable interest.

"Section 14. An insurable interest in property may consist in:

"(a) An existing interest;

"(b) An inchoate interest founded on an existing interest; or

"(c) An expectancy, coupled with an existing interest in that out of which the
expectancy arises.

"Section 15. A carrier or depository of any kind has an insurable interest in a
thing held by him as such, to the extent of his liability but not to exceed the value
thereof.

"Section 16. A mere contingent or expectant interest in any thing, not founded on
an actual right to the thing, nor upon any valid contract for it, is not insurable.

"Section 17. The measure of an insurable interest in property is the extent to
which the insured might be damnified by loss or injury thereof.

"Section 18. No contract or policy of insurance on property shall be enforceable
except for the benefit of some person having an insurable interest in the property
insured.

"Section 19. An interest in property insured must exist when the insurance takes
effect, and when the loss occurs, but need not exist in the meantime; and interest
in the life or health of a person insured must exist when the insurance takes
effect, but need not exist thereafter or when the loss occurs.

"Section 20. Except in the cases specified in the next four sections, and in the
cases of life, accident, and health insurance, a change of interest in any part of a
thing insured unaccompanied by a corresponding change of interest in the
insurance, suspends the insurance to an equivalent extent, until the interest in
the thing and the interest in the insurance are vested in the same person.

"Section 21. A change of interest in a thing insured, after the occurrence of an
injury which results in a loss, does not affect the right of the insured to indemnity
for the loss.

"Section 22. A change of interest in one or more of several distinct things,
separately insured by one policy, does not avoid the insurance as to the others.

"Section 23. A change of interest, by will or succession, on the death of the
insured, does not avoid an insurance; and his interest in the insurance passes to
the person taking his interest in the thing insured.

"Section 24. A transfer of interest by one of several partners, joint owners, or
owners in common, who are jointly insured, to the others, does not avoid an
insurance even though it has been agreed that the insurance shall cease upon
an alienation of the thing insured.

"Section 25. Every stipulation in a policy of insurance for the payment of loss
whether the person insured has or has not any interest in the property insured, or
that the policy shall be received as proof of such interest, and every policy
executed by way of gaming or wagering, is void.

"TITLE 4 "CONCEALMENT

"Section 26. A neglect to communicate that which a party knows and ought to
communicate, is called a concealment.

"Section 27. A concealment whether intentional or unintentional entitles the
injured party to rescind a contract of insurance.

"Section 28. Each party to a contract of insurance must communicate to the
other, in good faith, all facts within his knowledge which are material to the
contract and as to which he makes no warranty, and which the other has not the
means of ascertaining.

"Section 29. An intentional and fraudulent omission, on the part of one insured, to
communicate information of matters proving or tending to prove the falsity of a
warranty, entitles the insurer to rescind.

"Section 30. Neither party to a contract of insurance is bound to communicate
information of the matters following, except in answer to the inquiries of the
other:

"(a) Those which the other knows;

"(b) Those which, in the exercise of ordinary care, the other ought to know, and
of which the former has no reason to suppose him ignorant;

"(c) Those of which the other waives communication;

"(d) Those which prove or tend to prove the existence of a risk excluded by a
warranty, and which are not otherwise material; and

"(e) Those which relate to a risk excepted from the policy and which are not
otherwise material.

"Section 31. Materiality is to be determined not by the event, but solely by the
probable and reasonable influence of the facts upon the party to whom the
communication is due, in forming his estimate of the disadvantages of the
proposed contract, or in making his inquiries.

"Section 32. Each party to a contract of insurance is bound to know all the
general causes which are open to his inquiry, equally with that of the other, and
which may affect the political or material perils contemplated; and all general
usages of trade.

"Section 33. The right to information of material facts may be waived, either by
the terms of insurance or by neglect to make inquiry as to such facts, where they
are distinctly implied in other facts of which information is communicated.

"Section 34. Information of the nature or amount of the interest of one insured
need not be communicated unless in answer to an inquiry, except as prescribed
by Section 51.

"Section 35. Neither party to a contract of insurance is bound to communicate,
even upon inquiry, information of his own judgment upon the matters in question.

"TITLE 5 "REPRESENTATION

"Section 36. A representation may be oral or written.

"Section 37. A representation may be made at the time of, or before, issuance of
the policy.

"Section 38. The language of a representation is to be interpreted by the same
rules as the language of contracts in general.

"Section 39. A representation as to the future is to be deemed a promise, unless
it appears that it was merely a statement of belief or expectation.

"Section 40. A representation cannot qualify an express provision in a contract of
insurance, but it may qualify an implied warranty.

"Section 41. A representation may be altered or withdrawn before the insurance
is effected, but not afterwards.

"Section 42. A representation must be presumed to refer to the date on which the
contract goes into effect.

"Section 43. When a person insured has no personal knowledge of a fact, he
may nevertheless repeat information which he has upon the subject, and which
he believes to be true, with the explanation that he does so on the information of
others; or he may submit the information, in its whole extent, to the insurer; and
in neither case is he responsible for its truth, unless it proceeds from an agent of
the insured, whose duty it is to give the information.

"Section 44. A representation is to be deemed false when the facts fail to
correspond with its assertions or stipulations.

"Section 45. If a representation is false in a material point, whether affirmative or
promissory, the injured party is entitled to rescind the contract from the time
when the representation becomes false.

"Section 46. The materiality of a representation is determined by the same rules
as the materiality of a concealment.

"Section 47. The provisions of this chapter apply as well to a modification of a
contract of insurance as to its original formation.

"Section 48. Whenever a right to rescind a contract of insurance is given to the
insurer by any provision of this chapter, such right must be exercised previous to
the commencement of an action on the contract.

"After a policy of life insurance made payable on the death of the insured shall
have been in force during the lifetime of the insured for a period of two (2) years
from the date of its issue or of its last reinstatement, the insurer cannot prove that
the policy is void ab initio or is rescindable by reason of the fraudulent
concealment or misrepresentation of the insured or his agent.

"TITLE 6 "THE POLICY

"Section 49. The written instrument in which a contract of insurance is set forth,
is called a policy of insurance.

"Section 50. The policy shall be in printed form which may contain blank spaces;
and any word, phrase, clause, mark, sign, symbol, signature, number, or word
necessary to complete the contract of insurance shall be written on the blank
spaces provided therein.

"Any rider, clause, warranty or endorsement purporting to be part of the contract
of insurance and which is pasted or attached to said policy is not binding on the
insured, unless the descriptive title or name of the rider, clause, warranty or
endorsement is also mentioned and written on the blank spaces provided in the
policy.

"Unless applied for by the insured or owner, any rider, clause, warranty or
endorsement issued after the original policy shall be countersigned by the
insured or owner, which countersignature shall be taken as his agreement to the
contents of such rider, clause, warranty or endorsement.

"Notwithstanding the foregoing, the policy may be in electronic form subject to
the pertinent provisions of Republic Act No. 8792, otherwise known as the
Electronic Commerce Act and to such rules and regulations as may be
prescribed by the Commissioner.

"Section 51. A policy of insurance must specify:

"(a) The parties between whom the contract is made;

"(b) The amount to be insured except in the cases of open or running policies;

"(c) The premium, or if the insurance is of a character where the exact premium
is only determinable upon the termination of the contract, a statement of the
basis and rates upon which the final premium is to be determined;

"(d) The property or life insured;

"(e) The interest of the insured in property insured, if he is not the absolute owner
thereof;

"(f) The risks insured against; and

"(g) The period during which the insurance is to continue.

"Section 52. Cover notes may be issued to bind insurance temporarily pending
the issuance of the policy. Within sixty (60) days after issue of a cover note, a
policy shall be issued in lieu thereof, including within its terms the identical
insurance bound under the cover note and the premium therefor.

"Cover notes may be extended or renewed beyond such sixty (60) days with the
written approval of the Commissioner if he determines that such extension is not
contrary to and is not for the purpose of violating any provisions of this Code.
The Commissioner may promulgate rules and regulations governing such
extensions for the purpose of preventing such violations and may by such rules
and regulations dispense with the requirement of written approval by him in the
case of extension in compliance with such rules and regulations.

"Section 53. The insurance proceeds shall be applied exclusively to the proper
interest of the person in whose name or for whose benefit it is made unless
otherwise specified in the policy.

"Section 54. When an insurance contract is executed with an agent or trustee as
the insured, the fact that his principal or beneficiary is the real party in interest
may be indicated by describing the insured as agent or trustee, or by other
general words in the policy.

"Section 55. To render an insurance effected by one partner or part-owner,
applicable to the interest of his co-partners or other part-owners, it is necessary
that the terms of the policy should be such as are applicable to the joint or
common interest.

"Section 56. When the description of the insured in a policy is so general that it
may comprehend any person or any class of persons, only he who can show that
it was intended to include him, can claim the benefit of the policy.

"Section 57. A policy may be so framed that it will inure to the benefit of
whomsoever, during the continuance of the risk, may become the owner of the
interest insured.

"Section 58. The mere transfer of a thing insured does not transfer the policy, but
suspends it until the same person becomes the owner of both the policy and the
thing insured.

"Section 59. A policy is either open, valued or running.

"Section 60. An open policy is one in which the value of the thing insured is not
agreed upon, and the amount of the insurance merely represents the insurers
maximum liability. The value of such thing insured shall be ascertained at the
time of the loss.

"Section 61. A valued policy is one which expresses on its face an agreement
that the thing insured shall be valued at a specific sum.

"Section 62. A running policy is one which contemplates successive insurances,
and which provides that the object of the policy may be from time to time defined,
especially as to the subjects of insurance, by additional statements or
indorsements.1wphi1

"Section 63. A condition, stipulation, or agreement in any policy of insurance,
limiting the time for commencing an action thereunder to a period of less than
one (1) year from the time when the cause of action accrues, is void.

"Section 64. No policy of insurance other than life shall be cancelled by the
insurer except upon prior notice thereof to the insured, and no notice of
cancellation shall be effective unless it is based on the occurrence, after the
effective date of the policy, of one or more of the following:

"(a) Nonpayment of premium;

"(b) Conviction of a crime arising out of acts increasing the hazard insured
against;

"(c) Discovery of fraud or material misrepresentation;

"(d) Discovery of willful or reckless acts or omissions increasing the hazard
insured against;

"(e) Physical changes in the property insured which result in the property
becoming uninsurable;

"(f) Discovery of other insurance coverage that makes the total insurance in
excess of the value of the property insured; or

"(g) A determination by the Commissioner that the continuation of the policy
would violate or would place the insurer in violation of this Code.

"Section 65. All notices of cancellation mentioned in the preceding section shall
be in writing, mailed or delivered to the named insured at the address shown in
the policy, or to his broker provided the broker is authorized in writing by the
policy owner to receive the notice of cancellation on his behalf, and shall state:

"(a) Which of the grounds set forth in Section 64 is relied upon; and

"(b) That, upon written request of the named insured, the insurer will furnish the
facts on which the cancellation is based.

"Section 66. In case of insurance other than life, unless the insurer at least forty-
five (45) days in advance of the end of the policy period mails or delivers to the
named insured at the address shown in the policy notice of its intention not to
renew the policy or to condition its renewal upon reduction of limits or elimination
of coverages, the named insured shall be entitled to renew the policy upon
payment of the premium due on the effective date of the renewal. Any policy
written for a term of less than one (1) year shall be considered as if written for a
term of one (1) year. Any policy written for a term longer than one (1) year or any
policy with no fixed expiration date shall be considered as if written for
successive policy periods or terms of one (1) year.

"TITLE 7 "WARRANTIES

"Section 67. A warranty is either expressed or implied.

"Section 68. A warranty may relate to the past, the present, the future, or to any
or all of these.

"Section 69. No particular form of words is necessary to create a warranty.

"Section 70. Without prejudice to Section 51, every express warranty, made at or
before the execution of a policy, must be contained in the policy itself, or in
another instrument signed by the insured and referred to in the policy as making
a part of it.

"Section 71. A statement in a policy, of a matter relating to the person or thing
insured, or to the risk, as fact, is an express warranty thereof.

"Section 72. A statement in a policy, which imparts that it is intended to do or not
to do a thing which materially affects the risk, is a warranty that such act or
omission shall take place.

"Section 73. When, before the time arrives for the performance of a warranty
relating to the future, a loss insured against happens, or performance becomes
unlawful at the place of the contract, or impossible, the omission to fulfill the
warranty does not avoid the policy.

"Section 74. The violation of a material warranty, or other material provision of a
policy, on the part of either party thereto, entitles the other to rescind.

"Section 75. A policy may declare that a violation of specified provisions thereof
shall avoid it, otherwise the breach of an immaterial provision does not avoid the
policy.

"Section 76. A breach of warranty without fraud merely exonerates an insurer
from the time that it occurs, or where it is broken in its inception, prevents the
policy from attaching to the risk.

"TITLE 8 "PREMIUM

"Section 77. An insurer is entitled to payment of the premium as soon as the
thing insured is exposed to the peril insured against. Notwithstanding any
agreement to the contrary, no policy or contract of insurance issued by an
insurance company is valid and binding unless and until the premium thereof has
been paid, except in the case of a life or an industrial life policy whenever the
grace period provision applies, or whenever under the broker and agency
agreements with duly licensed intermediaries, a ninety (90)-day credit extension
is given. No credit extension to a duly licensed intermediary should exceed
ninety (90) days from date of issuance of the policy.

"Section 78. Employees of the Republic of the Philippines, including its political
subdivisions and instrumentalities, and government-owned or -controlled
corporations, may pay their insurance premiums and loan obligations through
salary deduction: Provided, That the treasurer, cashier, paymaster or official of
the entity employing the government employee is authorized, notwithstanding the
provisions of any existing law, rules and regulations to the contrary, to make
deductions from the salary, wage or income of the latter pursuant to the
agreement between the insurer and the government employee and to remit such
deductions to the insurer concerned, and collect such reasonable fee for its
services.

"Section 79. An acknowledgment in a policy or contract of insurance or the
receipt of premium is conclusive evidence of its payment, so far as to make the
policy binding, notwithstanding any stipulation therein that it shall not be binding
until the premium is actually paid.

"Section 80. A person insured is entitled to a return of premium, as follows:

"(a) To the whole premium if no part of his interest in the thing insured be
exposed to any of the perils insured against;

"(b) Where the insurance is made for a definite period of time and the insured
surrenders his policy, to such portion of the premium as corresponds with the
unexpired time, at a pro rata rate, unless a short period rate has been agreed
upon and appears on the face of the policy, after deducting from the whole
premium any claim for loss or damage under the policy which has previously
accrued: Provided, That no holder of a life insurance policy may avail himself of
the privileges of this paragraph without sufficient cause as otherwise provided by
law.

"Section 81. If a peril insured against has existed, and the insurer has been liable
for any period, however short, the insured is not entitled to return of premiums,
so far as that particular risk is concerned.

"Section 82. A person insured is entitled to a return of the premium when the
contract is voidable, and subsequently annulled under the provisions of the Civil
Code; or on account of the fraud or misrepresentation of the insurer, or of his
agent, or on account of facts, or the existence of which the insured was ignorant
of without his fault; or when by any default of the insured other than actual fraud,
the insurer never incurred any liability under the policy.

"A person insured is not entitled to a return of premium if the policy is annulled,
rescinded or if a claim is denied by reason of fraud.

"Section 83. In case of an over insurance by several insurers other than life, the
insured is entitled to a ratable return of the premium, proportioned to the amount
by which the aggregate sum insured in all the policies exceeds the insurable
value of the thing at risk.

"Section 84. An insurer may contract and accept payments, in addition to regular
premium, for the purpose of paying future premiums on the policy or to increase
the benefits thereof.

"TITLE 9 "LOSS

"Section 85. An agreement not to transfer the claim of the insured against the
insurer after the loss has happened, is void if made before the loss except as
otherwise provided in the case of life insurance.

"Section 86. Unless otherwise provided by the policy, an insurer is liable for a
loss of which a peril insured against was the proximate cause, although a peril
not contemplated by the contract may have been a remote cause of the loss; but
he is not liable for a loss of which the peril insured against was only a remote
cause.

"Section 87. An insurer is liable where the thing insured is rescued from a peril
insured against that would otherwise have caused a loss, if, in the course of such
rescue, the thing is exposed to a peril not insured against, which permanently
deprives the insured of its possession, in whole or in part; or where a loss is
caused by efforts to rescue the thing insured from a peril insured against.

"Section 88. Where a peril is especially excepted in a contract of insurance, a
loss, which would not have occurred but for such peril, is thereby excepted
although the immediate cause of the loss was a peril which was not excepted.

"Section 89. An insurer is not liable for a loss caused by the willful act or through
the connivance of the insured; but he is not exonerated by the negligence of the
insured, or of the insurance agents or others.

"TITLE 10 "NOTICE OF LOSS

"Section 90. In case of loss upon an insurance against fire, an insurer is
exonerated, if written notice thereof be not given to him by an insured, or some
person entitled to the benefit of the insurance, without unnecessary delay. For
other non-life insurance, the Commissioner may specify the period for the
submission of the notice of loss.

"Section 91. When a preliminary proof of loss is required by a policy, the insured
is not bound to give such proof as would be necessary in a court of justice; but it
is sufficient for him to give the best evidence which he has in his power at the
time.

"Section 92. All defects in a notice of loss, or in preliminary proof thereof, which
the insured might remedy, and which the insurer omits to specify to him, without
unnecessary delay, as grounds of objection, are waived.

"Section 93. Delay in the presentation to an insurer of notice or proof of loss is
waived if caused by any act of him, or if he omits to take objection promptly and
specifically upon that ground.

"Section 94. If the policy requires, by way of preliminary proof of loss, the
certificate or testimony of a person other than the insured, it is sufficient for the
insured to use reasonable diligence to procure it, and in case of the refusal of
such person to give it, then to furnish reasonable evidence to the insurer that
such refusal was not induced by any just grounds of disbelief in the facts
necessary to be certified or testified.

"TITLE 11 "DOUBLE INSURANCE

"Section 95. A double insurance exists where the same person is insured by
several insurers separately in respect to the same subject and interest.

"Section 96. Where the insured in a policy other than life is over insured by
double insurance:

"(a) The insured, unless the policy otherwise provides, may claim payment from
the insurers in such order as he may select, up to the amount for which the
insurers are severally liable under their respective contracts;

"(b) Where the policy under which the insured claims is a valued policy, any sum
received by him under any other policy shall be deducted from the value of the
policy without regard to the actual value of the subject matter insured;

"(c) Where the policy under which the insured claims is an unvalued policy, any
sum received by him under any policy shall be deducted against the full insurable
value, for any sum received by him under any policy;

"(d) Where the insured receives any sum in excess of the valuation in the case of
valued policies, or of the insurable value in the case of unvalued policies, he
must hold such sum in trust for the insurers, according to their right of
contribution among themselves;

"(e) Each insurer is bound, as between himself and the other insurers, to
contribute ratably to the loss in proportion to the amount for which he is liable
under his contract.

"TITLE 12 "REINSURANCE

"Section 97. A contract of reinsurance is one by which an insurer procures a third
person to insure him against loss or liability by reason of such original insurance.

"Section 98. Where an insurer obtains reinsurance, except under automatic
reinsurance treaties, he must communicate all the representations of the original
insured, and also all the knowledge and information he possesses, whether
previously or subsequently acquired, which are material to the risk.

"Section 99. A reinsurance is presumed to be a contract of indemnity against
liability, and not merely against damage.

"Section 100. The original insured has no interest in a contract of reinsurance.