The Government Service Insurance System is the state insurance company of the Republic of the Philippines. One of the Funds that it administers is the General Insurance Fund (GIF) established on September 1, 1951 under Republic Act No. 656, as amended by Presidential Decree No. 245.
RA 656 authorizes the GSIS to issue insurance covers for all properties, contracts, rights of action and other insurance risks of the government including those in which the government has an insurable interest such as Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) projects.
In 1973, Presidential Decree No. 245 expanded the GSIS’s insurance business by giving it the right to engage in all kinds of insurance and reinsurance business, to issue policies denominated not only in peso but also in foreign currencies, and to issue surety and performance bonds.
Government agencies, offices, and government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) are required by law to insure all properties, assets and interests of their respective offices with GSIS.
To strictly enforce the law, then President Corazon C. Aquino signed Administrative Order No. 33 in 1987 requiring government agencies, offices and GOCCs to submit an updated inventory of all insurable properties of their respective offices to GSIS.
