2,500+ leading industry experts to assemble to assess the future of road transportation and infrastructure in the Philippines 24 September – On 1 & 2 October at SMX Convention Center, Manila, the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA) supports the inaugural Roads & Traffic Expo Philippines, which will bring together the entire road transportation and infrastructure ecosystem to discuss new strategies and innovations to get the Philippines moving. The Philippines’ government has already unveiled one of the world’s most significant infrastructure development programmes with its “Build, Build, Build” initiative, which is setting the stage for two exciting days of networking and debate. Mark Richmund de Leon, OIC-Undersecretary for Road Transportation and Infrastructure from Philippines Department of Transport commented, “The Roads & Traffic Expo Philippines is a great opportunity for the Department of Transportation to highlights its initiatives and projects such as the Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) Modernization Program and the Motor Inspection Systems (MVIS)." "Through these efforts to improve our road transportation, we are addressing the worsening traffic conditions while we are putting emphasis on the safety of every Filipino as it is our major responsibility”. Opening the event with an international perspective on 1 October, Matthew Schultz, Chief Digital Officer of Ipswich City Council, one of Australia’s smartest cities and President of the Australian Smart Communities Association will be sharing his expertise in “Smart cities & digital connectivity”. Then we’ll be bringing the focus back to the Philippines as Roderick M. Planta, Assistant Secretary, Infrastructure, National Economic Development Authority addresses how the Philippine government plans to propel economic development through the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program. Building further on that theme, Danilo Lim, Chairman, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority will share more on the government’s plan in battling congestion in Metro Manila. On 2 October, the keynote plenary focuses on the future of road transportation. Mark Richmund de Leon, OIC-Undersecretary for Road Transport & Infrastructure, Philippines Department of Transport will kickstart the session looking at the role of transportation in the new mobility paradigm. Joining him is mobility expert Angeline Tham, Chief Executive Officer, Angkas who brings her expertise on the importance of safe and inclusive mobility options in building more sustainable cities. In the afternoon, join Ghia Yuson, Project Manager, Business Sweden who will be moderating a panel discussion on bus rapid transit and what it means for Philippines in the future. Joining her panel are experts H.E. Harald Fries, Swedish Ambassador to the Philippines, Ulf Wennblom, Country Manager of Business Sweden and Mark Richmund de Leon, OIC-Undersecretary for Road Transportation and Infrastructure from Philippines Department of Transport. In addition to the visionary keynotes, more than 100 inspirational speakers will share their insights across seven free-to-attend theatres covering Infrastructure & Cities, Roads, Tunnel & Bridges, Road Safety & Monitoring, Smart Mobility & Electric Vehicles, Urban Transportation and Parking. Additional featured speakers at The Roads & Traffic Expo Philippines include: • Marivel C. Sacendoncillo, Undersecretary for Local Government, Department of the Interior and Local Governments • Ivan Mark C. Galura, Deputy Director of the Committee on Energy, Senate of the Philippines • Charito B. Plaza, Director General, Philippines Economic Zone Authority • Raymond B. Ravelo, President, eSakay Inc. • Joshua M. Bingcang, Senior Vice President for Business Development and Operations Group, Bases Conversion and Development Authority • Kiyo Kawabuchi, Senior representative, Japan International Cooperation Agency • Shereen Gail Yu-Pamintuan, Executive Director, League of Cities of the Philippines • Medmier G. Malig, Director, Bureau of Quality and Safety, Department of Public Works and Highways • Martin B. Diño, Undersecretary for Barangay Affairs, Department of the Interior and Local Governments • Brian Cu, President, Grab Philippines • Rob Siy, Head, Pasig Transport, City Government of Pasig • Enrico C. Paringit, Executive Director, Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development Taking place alongside the conference sessions, the exhibition will feature a showcase of the latest road transportation and infrastructure technologies and solutions by over 100 industry players and up-and-coming start-ups. Some of the exhibiting companies include PIRA, Angkas, Shell Bitumen, Hyundai, ABB, Volvo Buses, Isuzu, Citilabs, Metrocount, Tritec, Avery Dennison, Metro Pacific Tollways and more. The Roads & Traffic Expo Philippines is also made possible through the partnership with the Department of Transportation, the Department of Interior and Local Government, the Department of Science & Technology, the Department of Labor and Employment, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, the Office of Transport Cooperatives, the Office for Transportation Security, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and the Philippine National Police. The two-day, free-to-attend conference and exhibition is expected to gather over 2,500 road transportation and infrastructure stakeholders from Philippines and beyond. For more information and registration, visit - www.terrapinn.com/roadsntrafficph2019 ____________________________________________________________________ About The Roads & Traffic Expo Philippines 2019 Date: 1 -2 October 2019 Conference & Exhibition opening hours: 09:00 am – 05:00pm Venue: SMX Convention Center, Manila, Philippines Website: www.terrapinn.com/roadsntrafficph2019 About Terrapinn Terrapinn events inspire and transform business. We’ve been sparking ideas, innovations and relationships that transform business for over 30 years. Using our global footprint, we bring innovators, disrupters and change agents together, discussing and demonstrating the technology, strategies and personalities that are changing the way the world does business. Terrapinn – spark something. Note: Press registration for the conference is compulsory and advance scheduling for speaker/ sponsor interviews is recommended. Press passes are strictly reserved for reporters, journalists, editors only. Final issuance of press passes is subjected to Terrapinn's discretion. For your complimentary press pass, please contact the following: Yeo Zi Sing Marketing Executive Terrapinn Pte Ltd Tel: +65 6322 2725 Email: zising.yeo@terrapinn.com

Last year, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), projected that traffic congestion in Metro Manila would cost the Philippines P5.4 billion every day by 2035. That is if no solution were reinforced by that time. Government agencies in charge of road infrastructure and transportation as well as the private sector have been trying — and implementing — different types of solutions to address the traffic congestion in Metro Manila that seems to be worsening by the day. The cost to the economy is not the only issue that needs to be seen as the problem but also its effects on the workforce that crawls down to the grassroots. With this premise, a more holistic approach is seen to be discussed at the two-day "The Roads & Traffic Expo Philippines" set on Oct. 1-2, 2019 at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City, Philippines. The first-ever road conference and exhibition dedicated to roads and traffic in the country hopes to connect government agencies and members of the private sector to come up with sustainable programs to address issues concerning the transportation industry. It will gather the government and private sectors to show how infrastructure, innovations, and technological solutions create economic strategies with effective and sustainable transportation systems. Road accessibility plays a crucial role in businesses and potential losses incurred in delays due to traffic or unpaved roads could be avoided. Over 100 exhibitors and 1,500 will participate in the expo to showcase the latest solutions from across Asia and around the world. The companies aim to introduce and provide various solutions and services to road planning, building and operating the ecosystem utilizing the latest in technology and best practices of cities that have become models of well-thought-out urban planning. The Philippine government has been aggressively investing in and building infrastructure as well as exploring the intelligent transport system. Listen for free to the 120 speakers across seven tracks who will cover bridges, electric vehicles, infrastructure, smart mobility, safety and parking, traffic management, tunnels, and urban transportation. Matthew Schultz, President of the Australian Smart Communities Association; Mark Richmund de Leon, OIC-Undersecretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure Department of Transportation, and Secretary Silvestre Bello III of the Department of Labor and Employment, will give their keynote address. Angeline Tham, Chief Executive Officer of app-based motorcycle taxi service Angkas, and George Royeca, Head of Regulatory and Public Affairs of Angkas, will discuss about the role of safe and inclusive mobility options in building more sustainable cities, and how an effective public-private partnership would be able to beat the worsening traffic in the metropolis respectively. By gathering all the stakeholders in the transport industry, the conference is looking at addressing not only roadworthiness and economic impact of traffic congestion but also improving driver satisfaction and promoting a more sustainable form of transport such as electronic or hybrid vehicles. "The Roads & Traffic Expo Philippines" is also made possible through the partnership with the Department of Tourism, Department of Transportation, the Land Transportation and Franchising Board, the Metro Manila Development Authority, and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority. "The Roads & Traffic Expo Philippines" is free to the public. For more information and registration, log in to www.terrapinn.com/roadstrafficexpoph2019

For the second year in a row, the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA) is participating in the Financial Education Expo of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) which opened today at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. PIRA has been tapped by the BSP as one of its partners in promoting financial literacy – particularly insurance literacy – among Filipinos. As a partner, PIRA has a booth at the FinEd Expo where participants can obtain materials in promoting insurance to their constituency. PIRA General Manager Roger Concepcion said it is an honor for the association to partner with the BSP. “We believe in the importance of financial literacy and we in PIRA are doing our part in promoting it through our various advocacies,” he said. The two-day FinEd Expo offers various financial education activities. It aims to instill awareness about the availability and accessibility of financial education programs to all Filipinos, increase personal financial consciousness on the values and benefits of being financially empowered, and orient the public about available financial tools that can help in the promotion of their financial well-being. The expo is a project handled by the BSP’s Financial Consumer Protection Department (FCPD) with the working sector, students and members of the academe as its target participants.

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar -- Top leaders of the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA) are now at the Horizon Lakeview Hotel here for the 45th meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Insurance Council (AIC). PIRA Chairman Allan Santos, Executive Director Michael Rellosa and Trustee Eden Tesoro are now attending meetings on AIC’s various committees. They are joined by Jene Aliwalas and Francis Papa, the former and present Executive Director of the Institute for Asia and the Pacific (IIAP), respectively. Chairman Santos is chairing the meeting of the AIC Reinsurance Committee while Mr. Rellosa is presiding over the AIC Education Committee which Mr. Aliwalas and Mr. Papa are attending. Ms. Tesoro, meanwhile, is attending the AIC’s Council of Bureaux. The meetings will last until Thursday, November 28, before the delegates go on a city tour on Friday. Taking part in the meetings are representatives from both the non-life or general insurance sector and the life insurance sector from 10 countries in Southeast Asia, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Representing the life insurance companies in the Philippines is the Philippine Life Insurance Association (PLIA). Also being held here is the gathering of the ASEAN Insurance Regulators from the 10 ASEAN member countries. Insurance Commissioner Dennis Funa and Deputy Commissioner Erickson Balmes are representing the Philippines. The meetings are meant to discuss challenges as well as opportunities in the insurance industry in the region. Among the hot topics that will be discussed is reinsurance pooling, reinsurance education, harmonization of standards in training insurance professionals, cross-border motorcar insurance, insurance for natural disasters, among others.

To assess the impact of what is billed as the “biggest shake-up in insurance reporting” for decades, the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA) has partnered with PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the Insurance Commission for a study on the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 17. At a kickoff event at the Asian Institute of Management recently, PIRA Chairman Mr. Allan R. Santos called on all PIRA members to support the impact assessment study aimed at identifying ways to help non-life insurance companies transition to IFRS17. The IFRS17 is a new standard released by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in 2017 and will be effective January 1, 2021 with prior year comparative reporting required. It requires measuring insurance contract liabilities based on certain “building blocks” such as discounted, probability-weighted estimates of cash flows, risk adjustment to address the uncertainty of cash flow estimates, and contractual service margin which is the unearned profit of the contract. PwC Senior Partner Ms. Imelda Dela Vega Mangundaya told PIRA members during the kickoff that the industry will have to revisit their rules and how they handle their books. “The Insurance Commission itself may have to revisit its rules under insurance industry ranking and the Amended Risk-Based Capital Framework,” she said. “For industry ranking, the income statement will no longer reflect gross premiums written but will be replaced by insurance service results, representing earned income. For capital requirement, the one-time equity effect of transition adjustment may trigger capital build-up plan or capital call from shareholders to comply with RBC2. Clarified guidance by the IC may be essential in this changing insurance landscape,” she explained.

They are tasked to manage the dangerous streets of Metro Manila. Yet despite the risks they face in their everyday work, the traffic enforcers of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) do not have insurance to protect them from accidents. Not anymore. On October 15, 2019, the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA) in partnership with the Insurance Commission (IC) and the Philippine Insurers Club (PIC) signed a memorandum of agreement with the MMDA to provide 2,300 traffic enforcers with free personal accident insurance. PIRA Chairman Allan Santos said the signing of the agreement is a fitting highlight for this year’s Insurance Consciousness Week (ICW) as it reminds insurers and the general public of the reason why insurance exists. “This brings us back to the why of insurance – why are we here in the first place? We are here because there is a need to protect people from the risks they face in their daily work. In this case, there is a need to protect MMDA enforcers from road accidents,” he said. The idea of providing free personal accident insurance to MMDA enforcers came from PIRA Executive Director Michael Rellosa. PIRA has been working with the MMDA to assist in conducting earthquake drills in the metropolis when Rellosa found out that MMDA enforcers do not have any form of insurance. “It was a light-bulb moment for me. I suddenly realized that this could be an ideal project for the PIC  and PIRA for the ICW,” he said. Under the agreement, the industry through PIRA will be paying for the premium for the group insurance policy that will be issued to the MMDA by Fortune General Insurance. Each MMDA enforcer enrolled in the policy will be insured for P10,000 in case of accidental death or disablement; P5,000 for unprovoked assault or murder; P10,000 as additional coverage for motorcycle accidents; P1,000 as medical reimbursement for accident; and P1,000 as burial benefit for death due to accident. Each MMDA enforcer will be given an insurance card as proof of being covered. It will have a validity of one year. MMDA Chairman Danny Lim said this will mean a lot to enforcers and will serve as an additional non-monetary incentive to them. “We are grateful to PIRA for this initiative. This is a very timely project as we are also pushing for the law that would grant hazard pay to our enforcers,” he said. Insurance Commissioner Dennis Funa congratulated PIRA and the PIC for this initiative and committed his agency’s support to the industry, particularly in its quest to improve its customer service through technology. PIC President Joey Reyes, meanwhile, expressed his gratitude to PIRA for its support to the ICW which PIC organizes every year.

COTABATO, Philippines — On 16 October 2019 at 7:37 PM (local time), a magnitude 6.3 earthquake rocked the province of Cotabato and its vicinity. According to PHIVOLCS, the epicenter was located 23 km southeast of the municipality of Tulunan in North Cotabato with a 9 kilometer depth of focus. Minutes after the quake, a fire incident occurred at Gaisano Mall in General Santos City. According to the latest situational report released by NDRRMC, a total of 870 aftershocks with 7 casualties and 7,089 damaged infrastructures were documented after the said event. The agency has not yet released any damage cost estimate as of this writing. Click here for the full report.

The Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA) has partnered with the Earth Security Group (ESG) in a pioneering effort to develop so-called ecosystem-based adaptation in the country. A report launched recently by the (ESG) documented a series of platforms it has developed over the past two years in collaboration with local action partners, to enable the private sector to play a greater role in scaling ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA). ESG’s new report entitled "Private Sector Collaboration for Climate Resilience: Catalysing Partnerships for Ecosystem-based Adaptation in the Philippines" highlights three platforms developed as part of Earth Security Group’s Action Lab programme. In the insurance platform, the ESG has begun working with PIRA to embed EbA in the Philippines’ insurance sector. An Insurance Task Force for EbA’ bringing together leading insurance and reinsurance companies and government decision-makers in the Philippines will develop new pathways to integrate the protection value of natural ecosystems into the definition of risk models and new product portfolios based on EbA. PIRA Executive Director Michael F. Rellosa said "Integrating ecosystem-based adaption in the insurance industry is a way to enhance the sector’s positive impact while expanding the portfolio of products in the market." "The Earth Security Group’s project has been instrumental in creating this awareness, which in our sector is very low, and bring together players that can contribute to innovative solutions," he said. The second platform features the ESG working with the Philippines Business for Environment (PBE) is identifying the collaboration mechanisms that can enable companies, investment funds, civil society and government agencies to work together to align their resources on opportunities to scale results-based Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes in line with the government’s natural conservation management priorities. The third platform, meanwhile, involves the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) establishing a Climate Resilience Lab to incubate EbA projects generated by MBA students and implemented with local governments. In addition, the AIM-ESG partnership actively works together with 10 to 15 local government executives in municipalities that are most exposed to the risks of climate change, with a bespoke executive programme that forges private-public partnerships for EbA with participating companies to build the resilience of cities and local populations through infrastructure and value chain investments that support ecosystem regeneration. Over the next two years, Earth Security Group and its action partners will continue developing these partnership programmes. The project is funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. The Earth Security Group's press release on this can be accessed through this link.

September 12, 2019| Makati Diamond Residences The Philippine Insurtech Conference, as the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association's (PIRA) 8th Stakeholders convention, will gather the non-life insurance industry's top executives to discuss present and future trends that are disrupting or about to disrupt the way they do business.   We have assembled a lineup of speakers who are authorities and thought leaders in the world of insure tech. We expect them to provide cutting-edge insights on how Philippine-based companies could leverage on insure tech and grow their business. EVENT VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS