Program rules

How Bantay ABE works

These are the rules the program’s staff follow. The amounts and periods below are always the current ones.

1. Membership

Membership is open to Agricultural and Biosystems Engineers (ABEs). You register with your PRC license number.
To make sure only licensed engineers join, you upload a photo of your PRC ID and a selfie holding it. A coordinator or admin checks them against PRC’s online verification. Your membership starts only once you are verified and have paid the joining fee.
You can name up to 5 beneficiaries — the people who receive your death benefit. Your spouse, parents and children are also covered when a claim is filed for them.
To become a member you pay the joining fee of —. You can pay it in one go or in parts; your membership becomes active once your contributions reach that amount.
After that, every member pays monthly dues of — into the pooled fund. You may pay several months ahead.
You are covered while you are no more than 1 month behind on dues. Further behind, you are not covered until you have paid what you owe. Your waiting periods keep counting meanwhile.

Pay by GCash, bank transfer or cash. For GCash or bank transfer, submit the reference number and, ideally, a screenshot of the receipt. For cash, hand it to a program treasurer, who confirms it in the system.
The minimum top-up is —.
A treasurer matches your payment against the program’s records. Once confirmed, your contributions go up and you receive a numbered acknowledgement receipt.
A reference number can only be used once.

Death benefits are paid to the member’s beneficiaries, shared equally. When a covered family member (spouse, parent or child) passes away, the benefit is paid to the member.
Hospitalization assistance is paid to the member, for the member or a covered family member.
The pabaon is a send-off for a retiring member who has been active for at least the period shown above. It is paid once, to the member. Its amount is calculated: —.
Each benefit has a waiting period, counted from the day your membership became active. Claims filed before it ends are not accepted.
Benefits are paid from the pooled fund, which is built from joining fees and monthly dues. Members are not charged a share every time a claim is paid, and nobody’s own contributions are reduced by a claim.
For transparency, each month we publish what that month’s claims cost each member if shared equally (total claims ÷ active members), next to the flat monthly dues.

File — the member, or a coordinator or admin on the family’s behalf, files the claim and attaches supporting documents such as a death certificate or hospital bill. A member’s own death claim is always filed on the family’s behalf.
Review — an approver checks the documents, the claimant’s identity, the membership status and the waiting period, then approves or declines. The approver must confirm, in the system, that they checked the identity. A decline always comes with a reason.
Release — a treasurer releases the payment. When more than one person could do a step, nobody can both approve and release the same claim.
Record — the payment is added to the public record, without names.

Claims are only paid while the fund can cover them.

The fund balance, total contributions, total assistance and recent assistance are shown on the public page.
Every approval, payment and rule change is recorded in an audit log that program staff can review.
A member’s ID card carries a code anyone can check at the verification page. It shows only a first name, last initial and whether the member is active.

Bantay ABE: Tulong Bayaw Network is a member-funded mutual aid program. It is not an insurance product and is not an official service of the Department of Agriculture.
Questions or concerns: ask a program admin.
How we handle your information is explained in the Privacy Notice.