THE search for the “Happiest Pinoy” has brought happiness to its organizer, Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions Inc. (CLIS), which is holding the awards again and upping the ante.
“The fact that we expect growth next year to be around 30 percent says it all. Of course, there’s a positive impact; of course, we’re happy,” CLSI General Manager Jonathan Batangan said on Thursday.
Batangan spoke to the BusinessMirror after the formal launch of the second edition of the company’s search for the country’s “most optimistic and passionate Filipinos who overcame difficulties and exhibited resilience amid life’s challenges while keeping a smile.”
Batangan said the search was aimed at making people see insurance in a more positive light.
“When we discuss or sell insurance products, usually it’s within a somber atmosphere. But it’s really something to hope for, to look forward to as protection. So we thought why not ‘positivize’ insurance and equate it with happiness,” Batangan told reporters during the launch.
He said the challenge was the low penetration rate of insurance in the Philippines at 15 percent.
“And it’s a different ball game with microinsurance,” Chief Executive Jean Henri Lhuillier told the BusinessMirror.
While Lhuillier said it was difficult for him to relate the direct impact of the Happiest Pinoy search to CLSI’s revenue, his company is growing at an annual average of 20 percent since 2009, the year the search began.
“Not many people or companies are doing it [microinsurance] since maybe for them it’s not cost-effective. But because we have an array of insurance products, we can still provide this service to Filipinos who can’t afford insurance but need to have it,” he said.
Batangan said one of the company’s best-selling products requires only P25 monthly payment for four months for accident and property insurance. He said about P35 million claims were filed in the third quarter.
He said the company expects to sponsor the search up to 2013, with discussions on launching a Happiest Pinoy Family by that year.
“It’s a great way to inspire ordinary Filipinos—housewives, vendors, security guards—who have shown resiliency, happiness and still inspire others, the community despite the odds and lack of money. The campaign shows it’s not how much somebody owns that bring us real happiness.”
Nonetheless, the search would award a P250,000 tax-free cash prize to a Filipino chosen by a nine-member board of judges. Nine runners-up would get P25,000 each, also tax-free. Awardees would be announced in June next year.
In the last search, the overall winner, Winston Maxino, was awarded P200,000 and there were only five runners-up. Maxino and the five winners were selected from 218 people—192 from Luzon; 19 from the Visayas; and, seven from Mindanao, who were nominated for the search.
Any Filipino of legal age, good moral character and residing in the Philippines may be nominated beginning Friday up to May 30, 2012.
Batangan said while there were politicians among the nominees, they would rather see more nominees from ordinary Filipinos, like a mother who survived surgery for cancer advocating more government fund support for the illness among children.
“We hope to see more of these stories, of these people who continue to be the strength of a family, a friend, a nation,” Batangan said.
