Manila, Philippines — June 8, 2026 “This tragedy underscores why being adequately insured against catastrophic perils is not a luxury but a necessity. Our country sits squarely on the Pacific Ring of Fire, and Nat Cat risk here is not confined to earthquakes—it extends to typhoons, floods, and storm surge. We are presently seeing a flurry of seismic and volcanic activity even as a strong La Niña is set to exacerbate the coming typhoon season. The industry exists precisely for moments like these—to help our people absorb the shock, rebuild, and recover.” — Michael Ferre Rellosa, Executive Director, PIRA The Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association, Inc. (PIRA) extends its deepest sympathies to the families, communities, and local governments of Southern Mindanao affected by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck off General Santos City and Sarangani on the morning of June 8, 2026. Our thoughts are with those who lost loved ones, sustained injuries, or saw their homes and livelihoods damaged, and we commend the first responders working on the ground. It is too early to assess insured losses. Claims are only beginning to trickle in, and a complete picture of the extent of damages will take several weeks to emerge. Early reports from the field already indicate damage to covered or insured assets, and the non-life industry can therefore expect losses that are, at this stage, unquantifiable. PIRA and its member companies stand ready to process and settle valid claims promptly and fairly. PIRA reaffirms its commitment to working alongside government, regulators, and industry partners to deepen catastrophe insurance penetration and strengthen the nation’s financial resilience against disasters. We continue to monitor developments closely and will provide further updates as a clearer assessment becomes available. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ About PIRA The Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association, Inc. (PIRA) is the national trade association representing domestic non-life insurance and reinsurance companies in the Philippines, advancing industry coordination, policy advocacy, and the country’s resilience against catastrophe risk. Media Contact: Office of the Executive Director, PIRA

Over 2000 facilities under the Guaranteed and Accessible Medications for Outpatient Treatment (GAMOT) package providers nationwide are ready to give GAMOT members 75 essential medicines at no cost, according to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth). The free medicines include those for treatment of infections, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart conditions, and nervous system disorders, along with other supportive therapies. The 2026 GAMOT facilities across Philippines help the members to avail medicines worth PHP20,000 ($326) annually. There are 397 government run and 1,629 are privately run establishments serving as GAMOT providers. PhilHealth said in a statement that contributions from members helped provide strength and hope to patients and families facing health challenges. It said it would continue improving and expanding its healthcare programmes to ensure that more Filipinos benefit from accessible and quality health services. Source: www.asiainsurancereview.com

Given the low insurance take-up in the Philippines, especially for homes, the insurance industry expects to see a wide divergence between insured and economic losses due to the 7.8 magnitude offshore earthquake that struck the southern part of the country on 8 June 2026. The Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA) in a communication on 08 June 2026 extended its deepest sympathies to the families, communities, and local governments of Southern Mindanao affected by the earthquake.” The quake has so far taken a toll of over 35 people and over 200 have been injured. PIRA said that while early reports indicate damage to insured assets, however, losses, at this stage, are still unquantifiable. “It is too early to assess insured losses. Claims are only beginning to trickle in, and a complete picture of the extent of damages will take several weeks to emerge. Our member companies stand ready to process and settle valid claims promptly and fairly.” PIRA Executive Director Michael Ferre Rellosa said, “This tragedy underscores why being adequately insured against catastrophic perils is not a luxury but a necessity. We are presently seeing a flurry of seismic and volcanic activity even as a strong La Niña is set to exacerbate the coming typhoon season. The industry exists precisely for moments like these—to help our people absorb the shock, rebuild, and recover.” In a statement AM Best Singapore Senior Director Analytics Victoria Ohorodnyk said, “Insurers have less exposures in the Mindanao area compared with the country’s more commercial centres, such as Manila. Given that backdrop and low insurance take-up in the Philippines – many homes are not insured - we would expect to see a wide divergence between insured and economic losses. “Insurers in the Philippines are dependent on the global reinsurance market for transferring extreme earthquake risks and this event could cause reinsurers to re-evaluate their earthquake models and risk appetite. However, we do not anticipate a significant change in the risk appetite for non-loss affected regions in the short term.” According to The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, the tectonic earthquake occurred at a depth of 33 kilometres, with the epicentre 32 kilometres southwest of the coast of Maasim town in Sarangani Province on Mindanao Island. The town has a population of 700,000. Philippines is one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries which is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of seismic faults around the ocean. Source: www.asiainsurancereview.com

El Niño conditions are expected to return and influence global temperatures and rainfall patterns, including in the United States, in the coming months, according to the United Nations. The weather phenomenon, which is part of a recurring global weather cycle, has an 80 percent chance of forming between June and August this year and a 90 percent chance to do so before November, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the UN’s leading climate body, said on Tuesday. The last El Niño cycle, in 2023-24, was one of the five strongest on record and contributed to record global temperatures in 2024, said the WMO. Forecast models suggest this next one will be at least moderate in strength, with the potential to become strong. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned the event should be treated as an “urgent climate warning,” saying El Niño “will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world,” with impacts that could intensify and spread rapidly across borders. Where El Niño Is Expected To Hit Hardest The WMO data showed that, from late April to mid-May, sea-surface temperatures in the central-eastern equatorial Pacific — the key monitoring region—were approaching El Niño thresholds. At the same time, the Southern Oscillation Index—the atmospheric component of El Niño—is also consistent with emerging El Niño conditions. Forecasts suggest widespread impacts across much of the globe, with above-average temperatures likely in nearly all regions between June and August. The WMO’s multi-model outlook shows particularly strong warming across large parts of the Pacific, Africa, Asia and the Americas, increasing the risk of heat waves and compounding climate hazards. Rainfall patterns are also expe ted to shift along typical El Niño lines, bringing wetter conditions to parts of the southern United States, southern South America, the Horn of Africa and central Asia, Meanwhile, the likelihood of drier conditions across Central America, northern South America, the Caribbean, Australia and parts of southern Asia will increase. Shifting ocean temperatures may also influence storm activity, with increased cyclone potential in the central and eastern Pacific while there could likely be a quieter Atlantic hurricane season. Source: www.newsweek.com

THE Pacific is warming again, and the warning lights are already on. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration has raised its El Niño alert, pegging the probability of onset between June and August 2026 at 79 percent, with European models flagging the possibility of a record-breaking “super” event that could stretch into 2027. The last strong El Niño in 2023 to 2024 cost Philippine agriculture roughly P57 billion. A super event would be worse, and the country must not be caught flatfooted. Filipinos tend to picture El Niño as a long dry season. It is that, but it is also more. Expect water shortages in Metro Manila as Angat Dam draws down. We in the southern parts of the Metro as well as the Cavite area have almost daily water supply interruptions albeit in the evenings. Expect crop failures across rice and corn belts in Central Luzon, Mindoro and Mindanao. Expect heat indices (another current daily occurrence) that push past 50 degrees Celsius, forcing class suspensions and pulling outdoor workers off job sites. Expect spikes in heatstroke, vector-borne diseases (like dengue and chikungunya) and respiratory illness as air quality deteriorates. And expect the cruel twist of El Niño cycles: while the east dries out, the western seaboard often gets violent, concentrated downpours from a strengthened “habagat,” with floods and landslides striking ground already cracked by drought. Power supply will tighten as hydroelectric output falls and demand for cooling soars. Food and water inflation will follow. Preparing for this cannot be the government’s job alone. The Roadmap to Address the Impact of Niño, Task Force El Niño, drought-resistant seed distribution, irrigation repairs and the National Food Authority’s 52-day rice buffer are necessary, but they are scaffolding, not a roof. A Super El Niño touches every household, every business, every barangay. It demands an all-of-society response. Public-private partnerships are where this response gets real muscle. Water utilities such as Maynilad and Manila Water must work hand in hand with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System on leak reduction, alternative sources and rationing protocols communicated early and clearly. Power producers and the Department of Energy must coordinate maintenance schedules so that thermal plants are not down precisely when hydro fails. Telcos, logistics firms and retail chains can pre-position relief routes and stockpiles. Agribusinesses can contract directly with smallholder farmers for drought-resilient varieties, sharing both risk and reward. Public-private partnerships in desalination, solar-powered irrigation and cold-chain storage are no longer optional luxuries; they are climate infrastructure. The insurance industry has a particularly underused role to play. The Philippines remains one of the least-insured countries in the world relative to its disaster exposure. That is a gap the sector can and must close. Parametric insurance, which pays out automatically when a pre-agreed trigger such as rainfall, temperature or wind speed is hit, is already being piloted here for 14,200 small-scale fishers, and the Asian Development Bank is helping design parametric covers for 10 cities. Crop microinsurance through Philippine Crop Insurance Corp., sovereign catastrophe bonds with World Bank backing and affordable household policies starting at P250 a year all exist. The industry should now scale them aggressively, simplify claims and educate the public. Faster payouts mean faster recovery and faster recovery means fewer families pushed into permanent poverty by a single dry season. And the ordinary citizen? Far from helpless. Conserve water now, not when the taps run dry: fix leaks, harvest rainwater, reuse gray water for plants. Audit household electricity use and shift to efficient appliances. Buy crop and home microinsurance if you can; it costs less than a week of groceries. Keep a 72-hour emergency kit for both heat and flood scenarios. Check on elderly neighbors when temperatures spike. Support local farmers by buying their produce so they can weather a bad harvest. Vote, at every level, for officials who treat climate adaptation as core governance rather than seasonal photo opportunity. A Super El Niño is not a surprise. It is a forecast. The question is no longer whether it will come, but whether we will meet it as a fragmented collection of agencies and individuals or as a country that has decided, finally, to prepare together. The rain we save, the seed we plant, the policy we buy, the neighbor we check on, the partnership we forge, each of these is a small bet against a very large risk. Placed together, they are how we get through. Magbayanihan na po tayo! Source: www.manilatimes.net

SEADRIF Insurance Company and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have launched an anticipatory drought insurance pilot in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). This marks the first time a Southeast Asian government has secured pre-arranged financing designed to activate ahead of drought impacts. The pilot provides the Lao Ministry of Finance with access to payouts triggered by early warning data indicating elevated drought risk, before conditions severely affect farming households and rural communities. Payouts are distributed when the Combined Drought Index, which is monitored by the country’s Department of Meteorology and Hydrology, reaches a certain threshold. Under the pilot, payouts will fund government-led anticipatory actions, including early warning messages, community training on drought-resistant farming techniques, and improved water and irrigation management. Drought is the single largest disaster risk in Lao PDR, with around 1.2m people exposed annually and average annual losses estimated at $672m, equivalent to about 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP). The initiative comes as forecasts point to a possible return of El Niño conditions in 2026 to 2027. Source: www.asiainsurancereview.com

The Philippines' finance chief is being sued over the alleged diversion of funds from the country's state insurance institutions to the national treasury. The charges were filed by health reform advocate and former adviser to the Department of Health, Dr Tony Leachon. He filed plunder and technical malversation cases before the Office of the Ombudsman against Finance Secretary Ralph Recto over the PHP60bn ($1bn) diversion of funds from PhilHealth reserve funds and PHP107bn from the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC). Dr Leachon also filed cases against Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) Board Chair Teodoro Herbosa, Acting Finance Secretary Frederick Go, former Budget Secretary Rolando Toledo, PhilHealth President and CEO Edwin Mercado, former PhilHealth CEO Emmanuel Ledesma Jr., PDIC CEO Roberto Tan, and several John and Jane Does representing other PDIC directors and officials. In 2025, Mr Recto greenlit the transfer of PHP60bn from PhilHealth’s reserve funds to the National Treasury, calling it “legal, moral, and economically sound.” “This claim collapses under the Universal Health Care Law and sin tax earmarking provisions, which mandate that these funds remain within PhilHealth to support indigent members and primary care,” said Dr Leachon. “The result: PhilHealth deficits of PHP356.6bn from 2023 to 2025, unpaid hospitals, underfunded cancer and dialysis programs, and millions of Filipinos denied care. The PHP107bn diversion from PDIC further weakened financial safeguards meant to protect depositors, eroding public trust,” he said. Mr Recto has said the charges are “pure harassment,” standing by the legality of the move. But Dr Leachon said, “Sec. Recto has alluded that this issue is being ‘fanned’ by politicians. I deny this flatly. This case is not about political theater — it is about the undeniable suffering of patients denied dialysis, families forced into debt, and hospitals driven to insolvency. No rhetoric can erase the human cost of these diversions.” Source: www.asiainsurancereview.com

As it continues the liquidation process, The Philippines' insurance regulator, the Insurance Commission, has revealed that Danvil has paid out over PHP1.62bn ($26.31m) in claims. According to a statement from the Insurance Commission, this represents payment to 17,274 claims during Danvil’s liquidation and 15 claims after the formal closure of liquidation proceedings on 6 March 2026. Pre-need firm Danvil was placed under conservatorship on 14 October 2010 and was subsequently placed under liquidation on 16 December 2014. Distribution to planholders commenced in December 2016. The continuing distribution to planholders marks the culmination of more than a decade of liquidation proceedings and efforts to settle the claims of affected planholders. The regulator also noted that as of 22 May 2026, 7,681 planholders have yet to claim their cheques, and that Danvil is currently sending out notices to the remaining claimants to facilitate the release of their claims. “The settlement of these claims reflects the continuing commitment of the Insurance Commission and the liquidator to protect the interests of planholders and ensure that they receive the benefits due to them,” Insurance Commissioner Reynaldo Regalado said. “We encourage all remaining claimants to coordinate with Danvil and complete the necessary requirements for the release of their claims.” Source: www.asiainsurancereview.com

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has paid out PHP143.22bn ($2.32bn) in benefit claims nationwide from 1 January 2026 to 30 Apri, 2026, marking a 56.15% increase compared to the PHP91.72bn released during the same period last year, reported the Philippine News Agency. PhilHealth said the increase in benefit payments reflects the state insurer’s continued effort to expand health coverage and improve access to medical services for Filipinos. Data showed that benefit payments to private health facilities reached PHP84.65bn in the first four months of 2026, up by 58.16% from PHP53.52bn recorded in the same period in 2025. On the other hand, payments to government health facilities rose by 53.33% to PHP58.57bn from PHP38.20bn last year. PhilHealth said more than 9.1m Filipinos received medical assistance during the four-month period. The state insurer added that contributions from members helped provide strength and hope to patients and families facing health challenges. It also assured the public that it would continue improving and expanding its healthcare programmes to ensure that more Filipinos benefit from accessible and quality health services. Source: www.asiainsurancereview.com

PIRA is pleased to invite its members to participate in the BRIDGE Sustainable Finance Training Programmes, supported by the ASEAN-UK Green Transition Fund. These complimentary sessions are designed to deepen our understanding of climate strategy and sustainable investment. Two distinct tracks are available: 1. Championing Sustainable Finance for Executive Impact Target: C-Suite and Senior Executives Format: Two virtual half-day sessions (3:00 PM – 6:30 PM GMT+8) Dates: Cohort 1 (June 10-11) or Cohort 2 (June 17-18) 2. Building Future-Ready Sustainable Finance Capabilities Target: Middle Management and All Staff Format: 5 self-paced e-learning modules Availability: May 25, 2026 – February 28, 2027 Interested participants must register by May 31, 2026, via the following links: Executive Training - https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=oJQyUSA-skGpcG0wvxVG-vzNZiORnjNBsfEqZf3IQgpUOTdVUTRLUDdTSEU3WDQ0QVAzRk1SMkVJUi4u E-Learning Series - https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=oJQyUSA-skGpcG0wvxVG-vzNZiORnjNBsfEqZf3IQgpUMEhTREVVTTJDTDJGRE5KWE5aOEJOWEtOQS4u Participants will receive a certificate of completion and access to the Regional Sustainable Finance Landscape Report.