Duterte urged to sack Insurance Commissioner Dooc for coddling insurance companies artifact

President Rodrigo Duterte has been asked to let go of Insurance Commissioner (IC) Commissioner Emmanuel Dooc for failing to protect legitimate insurance claims in favor of insurance companies.

“The Insurance Commission should do its job protecting the insured public and not the insurance companies,” said lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, who spoke on behalf of the Steel Corporation of the Philippines (SCP) which is the only remaining steel company in the country after the rest folded due to bad governance and competition from imported steel.

“In the very least he is negligent in the performance of his duties. In the very worst, he is in collusion with the insurance companies,” Topacio added.

Despite legitimate insurance claims when two fires broke out in its Batangas plant in 2008 and 2009, The IC did not act on the SCP’s two complaints of unfair claims settlement against its insurers, Topacio said.

The SCP is claiming a total of $38.2 million in insurance.

The SCP was then forced to file two complaints before the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) in March 2015 as well as petition for mandamus before the Court of Appeals (CA) in July 2016 over IC’s inaction over SCP’s two complaints.

Although IC rules state that it should have ruled on the SCP’s complaints within 30 days, Topacio cited that the IC suddenly issued on August 2016 a ruling dismissing the SCP’s complaints. It also would not accept any motion for reconsideration from the SCP, which the lawyer said is against the law.