Raymond Justin T.

Inocentes INSURANCE SUNDAY 3:00 ~ 5:00pm

Why Public Enemies Cannot Be Insured

Section 7 of Republic Act 10607 (The Insurance Code, as amended) provides:

“Section 7. Anyone except a public enemy may be insured.”

This has been a reiteration of P.D. 612 prior to the amendment, and could even
be found in section 8 of the Philippine Insurance Law Act No. 2427 (which is an old law
on insurance that was enacted during the American regime in the Philippines. Because
of this, an insurance policy ceases to be allowable as soon as an insured becomes a
public enemy. In context of the law adopted during the American occupation of the
Philippines, the term Public enemy could be understood as term used to describe a
nation at war with the United States. The government of a foreign country, rather than a
group of individuals within a country, must be at war with the U.S. for the nation to be
considered a public enemyi. In times of war, public enemies aren't allowed to enter into
insurance contracts within the State that considers them as such. Public enemy refers
to the enemy country as well as its people. If the entity in question is a corporation, the
nationality of the controlling stockholders is the determining factor, not the corporation's
place of incorporation (corporate veil doctrine.) When war breaks out insurance
contracts with public enemies lose their binding effect (Filipinas Cia de Seguros vs.
Henefeld & Co., 89 Phil 54.)

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https://definitions.uslegal.com/p/public-enemy/ US Legal.com Retrieved 03/25/2018