[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’.
“SEC. 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
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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
“SEC. 6. Every corporation, partnership, or association, duly authorized to transact insurance
business as elsewhere provided in this Code, may be an insurer.
“SEC. 7. Anyone except a public enemy may be insured.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 17. The measure of an insurable interest in property is the extent to which the insured
might be damnified by loss or injury thereof.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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
“SEC. 26. A neglect to communicate that which a party knows and ought to communicate, is
called a concealment.
“SEC. 27. A concealment whether intentional or unintentional entitles the injured party to
rescind a contract of insurance.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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
“SEC. 36. A representation may be oral or written.
“SEC. 37. A representation may be made at the time of, or before, issuance of the policy.
“SEC. 38. The language of a representation is to be interpreted by the same rules as the language
of contracts in general.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 40. A representation cannot qualify an express provision in a contract of insurance, but it
may qualify an implied warranty.
“SEC. 41. A representation may be altered or withdrawn before the insurance is effected, but not
afterwards.
“SEC. 42. A representation must be presumed to refer to the date on which the contract goes into
effect.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 44. A representation is to be deemed false when the facts fail to correspond with its
assertions or stipulations.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 46. The materiality of a representation is determined by the same rules as the materiality
of a concealment.
“SEC. 47. The provisions of this chapter apply as well to a modification of a contract of
insurance as to its original formation.
“SEC. 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
“SEC. 49. The written instrument in which a contract of insurance is set forth, is called a policy
of insurance.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 59. A policy is either open, valued or running.
“SEC. 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 insurer’s maximum liability. The value of such
thing insured shall be ascertained at the time of the loss.
“SEC. 61. A valued policy is one which expresses on its face an agreement that the thing insured
shall be valued at a specific sum.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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
“SEC. 67. A warranty is either expressed or implied.
“SEC. 68. A warranty may relate to the past, the present, the future, or to any or all of these.
“SEC. 69. No particular form of words is necessary to create a warranty.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
“SEC. 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.
