PCAF partners with PCIC for NSCs’, AFCs’ insurance protection

PCAF Executive Director Ariel Cayanan (seated, second from right) and PCIC President Jovy Bernabe (seated, center) ink a Memorandum of Agreement on the insurance protection for the NSCs and AFCs under the PCIC Accident and Dismemberment Security Scheme as PCAF and PCIC officials look on.

In recognition of the invaluable service and contribution of the National Sectoral Committees (NSCs) and the Agricultural and Fishery Councils (AFCs), the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) carries on the previous insurance protection initiative for them by entering into a renewed agreement with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC).

On May 28, 2015, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed between PCAF and the PCIC for a year-long insurance program for the NSCs and the AFCs through the latter’s Accident and Dismemberment Security Scheme (ADSS).

The insurance protection is for the chairpersons, sectoral chairpersons coordinators, and executive officers of the regional AFCs; chairpersons, sectoral chairpersons, and coordinators of the provincial AFCs; chairpersons and coordinators of the 429 PCAF-supported municipal AFCs; and, chairpersons of the NSCs, subcommittees and technical working committees.

The scheme covers the death, dismemberment or disablement due to accident of the beneficiaries aged up to 80 years old.

“It would really help a lot because these NSC and AFC members are volunteers of the Department of Agriculture and PCAF. This is an incentive for them that they are helping PCAF achieve their goals and the PCIC is glad to be a partner in this undertaking,” PCIC President Jovy Bernabe said after signing the MOA with PCAF Executive Director Ariel Cayanan.

Other PCAF officials present in the event were PCAF Deputy Executive Director Florabelle Uy-Yap; PCAF Partnership Development Division (PDD) Chief Elgie Namia; Administrative, Financial and Management Division (AFMD) Chief Alexander Daroya; PDD Volunteer Management Section (VMS) Chief Conchita del Rosario; VMS officers Marilyn Gonzales and Michael Rey Lazaro; and AFMD Budget Section Chief Jose Redentor Besenio.

“The intrinsic value of the insurance coverage is too small compared with the voluntary service rendered by our NSC and AFC partners for PCAF and for the agriculture and fisheries sector as a whole. We hope that the insurance coverage would be like a seed that will grow as we especially look forward to expanding it in the future,” Exec. Dir. Cayanan.

Aside from the said insurance program, the PCAF also has efforts to support the telecommunications needs of the members of these consultative bodies as well as an awards and recognition program slated later this year.