By Perfecto Raymundo, Jr./PNA
MANILA — Tricycle drivers and passengers in Quezon City will now receive corresponding compensation if they figure in road crashes after Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista signed an ordinance that mandates the granting of personal accident insurance for tricycles.
Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, the presiding officer of the Quezon City Council, on Tuesday said Ordinance 2768 is the product of the city’s concern for tricycle drivers since numerous families in the city depend on tricycles as a livelihood and also as a practical mode of transportation.
“Tricycles are used for short-distance travels, but we cannot disregard the fact that these vehicles get into accidents as well. Mga ordinaryong manggagawa ang karaniwang sumasakay nito kaya iniisip namin, paano nila tutustusan ang kanilang sarili kung sila ay naaksidente? (Ordinary workers are its usual passengers. Hence, we were thinking, how can they spend cope if they met an accident),” Belmonte said interview with the media.
“Now that we have an ordinance for this, the city government can help fund the insurance for our tricycle drivers, including their passengers,” she added.
If a tricycle driver or a passenger gets into an accident, the said insurance will provide compensation ranging from PHP7,500 to PHP50,000 to the victims depending on the severity of the damage/injury acquired such as death, disablement, limb amputations, loss of sight, hearing, and speech; including the loss of thumb or the index finger.
“The city government will subsidize 50 percent of the total amount of the insurance program for its first-year implementation, while the other 50 percent will be shouldered by the tricycle operators,” the measure read.
The city government allocated PHP20 million for the seed fund of said program.
