The non-life insurance industry faces an unquantifiable volume of claims after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the waters off General Santos City and Sarangani province on June 8, 2026, with the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association, Inc. (PIRA) confirming that damaged insured assets had already been reported across affected areas.
PIRA said in a June 8 statement that loss assessment remained in its earliest stages, with incoming claims only beginning to reflect the scale of physical damage on the ground. The association said a definitive figure on insured losses would not be available for several weeks, given that field verification was still ongoing at the time. “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 said. Member companies, the association added, were prepared to process and settle valid claims.
PIRA executive director Michael Ferre Rellosa tied the earthquake to a wider pattern of natural catastrophe exposure in the Philippines, arguing that the country’s risk profile extended well beyond seismic events alone. He noted that concurrent volcanic and seismic activity, combined with a La Niña-influenced typhoon season ahead, placed the industry in a period of elevated exposure across multiple peril categories.
“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,” Rellosa said. PIRA said it would issue further updates as damage assessments progressed, and reiterated its position on working with government bodies, regulators, and industry counterparts to widen catastrophe insurance coverage across the country.
Government figures released on June 15 illustrate the physical and human scope of the event and offer a basis for gauging the range of claims the industry may receive in the coming weeks. The NDRRMC’s June 15 situational report placed the verified death toll at 65 – 57 in Region 12 (Soccsksargen) and eight in Region 11 (Davao Region) – with 1,447 persons reported injured and 36 still listed as missing. Displacement was extensive. A total of 176,186 families, or approximately 736,386 individuals, were affected across 512 barangays in Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula), Regions 11 and 12, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Property damage figures point to a substantial volume of potential claims. The NDRRMC logged 57,252 damaged houses – 47,229 partially damaged and 10,023 totally damaged. Office of Civil Defense Deputy Administrator Assistant Secretary Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV separately reported that 728 infrastructure units, both public and private, sustained damage, with repair costs estimated at PHP1.13 billion. Approximately 14 local government units had been placed under a state of calamity as of the same date.
Access to affected areas remains a factor in claims operations. The Armed Forces of the Philippines had fielded 546 personnel and 43 search, rescue, and retrieval teams across Sarangani and Davao Occidental as of June 15, with military air assets actively transporting personnel and supplies to areas that may otherwise be difficult to reach – conditions that could affect the pace at which loss adjusters are able to complete on-site assessments.
