Cebu Province Official WebsiteThe Cebu Provincial Government will insure at least 36,000 farmers under the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) this year. Provincial Agriculturist Necias Vicoy announced this to the town and city mayors during the Provincial Development Council meeting this morning, March 7, at the Capitol Social Hall. He said during the cropping season of August to September, 25,010 farmers and fishermen were insured while in the cropping season of January to February, another 11,088 beneficiaries will be covered. PCIC Vice President Antonio Uy said he will go to Bantayan Island today to insure the 1,066 beneficiaries in the municipalities of Madridejos, Bantayan and Sta. Fe. The coverage also includes not just the farmers but also their crops, farm animals and fishing boats or banca. Apart from the agro-fishery sector, the province also transferred the insurance coverage of 45,103 barangay officials, lupons, nutrition scholars, health workers, tanods and other volunteer barangay workers from the Government Service and Insurance System (GSIS) to the PCIC. Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said this is because PCIC offered insurance benefits of P50,000 or higher than the P40,000 of GSIS. PCIC also offered P57,000 insurance benefits to the farmers and fisher folks and they can also release money immediately in two weeks time. Uy said that around 186,000 farmers and fisherfolks are insured under the PCIC nationwide and Cebu’s number will be 30 percent of the total coverage of the PCIC. He added that when people asked about PCIC through their website, they will come across Cebu’s initiatives as they have documented all their services to the province including the distribution of the indemnity checks to the victims or beneficiaries. Currently, there were a total of 9,327 farmers and fisher folks who were issued PCIC insurance certificates all throughout the province.