Seen, unseen scars

The fallout from a road accident may be akin to a sudden downpour catching you off guard on your way to work with no umbrella. It’s complete chaos, like soldiers stepping out of a battlefield.

Victims are left grappling with severe injuries, emotional trauma, financial burdens, and the task of piecing their lives back together, trying to make sense of the physical and psychological wreckage.

Public utility vehicles are supposed to be the knights in shining armor of transportation, swooping in to rescue us from the daily grind. But when they fail us because of the government’s unjust compensation policies, they become the harbingers of tragedy — a hard truth. The scars — seen and unseen — run deep, like cracks in a fragile vase that threaten to shatter at any moment.

Then comes the insult to injury: the compensation, a single cookie that is handed over to share among a starving crowd. The victims, already reeling from the blow of the accident, are now forced to haggle over a meager sum that barely scratches the surface of their suffering. Sad but true — a cruel joke and a slap to the faces of those already on their knees.

The victims find themselves on the losing end. Their pain, their trauma, their loss — all reduced to a number on a piece of paper. It’s demoralizing and downright dehumanizing. They’re left feeling like second-class citizens in a system that values profit over people.

They are met with a wall of bureaucracy that seems designed to keep them out. Promises of justice and compensation ring hollow in their ears, drowned out by the authorities’ deafening silence.

In an ideal scenario, victims of road accidents onboard public utility vehicles (PUV) would receive fair and just compensation to help them rebuild their lives and recover from their ordeal. Unfortunately, the reality often falls short of this ideal, with victims facing an uphill battle to secure adequate compensation for their losses.

Insurance companies, legal complexities, and bureaucratic hurdles can all stand in the way of victims receiving the support they desperately need.

The recent call of major transport groups in the country for just compensation in cases of death and permanent disability for passengers could be the end of a David-and-Goliath battle, with the odds stacked against them from the start.

It is a significant and crucial demand that deserves the government’s attention. The move by the Magnificent 7 — comprising prominent transport organizations such as Pasang Masda, Alliance of Transport Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines (ALTODAP), Alliance of Concerned Transport Organizations, Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines, Stop and Go Transport Coalition, Liga ng Transportasyon at Operators sa Pilipinas, and UV Express National Alliance of the Philippines — has thrown down the gauntlet to the national government via the Insurance Commission (IC).

It all started when the IC issued a new memorandum circular pumping up the insurance coverage under the Compulsory Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance. ALTODAP president Melencio “Boy” Vargas, who is on board with the initiative, is waving the caution flag, calling for some much-needed clarifications on the insurance coverage in cases of multiple casualties in road accidents.

According to the IC circular, the insurance coverage for death has been increased to P200,000 from P100,000 and for permanent disability, P50,000. However, Vargas noted that in practice the old rates were split equally among the victims.

He suggested that the government allocate P400,000 per person in cases of death and P100,000 per person in cases of permanent disability, benefiting both PUV and private vehicle passengers.

With passengers’ safety and compensation hanging in the balance, will the government make the right moves to ensure fair play and protection for all?

In the end, the victims of road accidents are not just statistics or case files — they are human beings with hearts that beat and souls that ache. Their struggles are everyone’s struggle, and their pain is our pain. Let us not look away.