PEP COALITION BACKED BY SEN. ROXAS AGAINST PRE-NEED COMPANIES? The "Unang Hirit" Channel 7 Wednesday appearance of Philip Piccio, the leader of a group calling itself "PEP Coalition," was preceded by a frenzy of text messages sent to officials and plan holders of Phil Asia Care Plans, Inc. a day before, warning that Piccio will touch, although indirectly, about the Phil Asia problem.
Included in the flurry of day-long and night-long text messages is a warning that Piccio is working with Sen. Mar Roxas and a law firm hired by Roxas which, Piccio claimed in the interview with broadcaster Arnold Clavio, will also seek the disbarment of Phil Asia's lawyer---which means me, even if the pepped head did not say so!
Indeed, Piccio got interviewed by Clavio and, true enough, Piccio talked about a pre-need company whose owners will be sued by ousted and dismissed officials of Phil Asia who have since joined PEP Coalition.
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WHAT IS THE AGENDA OF ROXAS FOR PRE-NEED COMPANIES? Is it true that Sen. Roxas is helping the ousted and dismissed Phil Asia officials to stop the company from seeking ways and means to fulfill its obligations to pay the benefits of its plan holders despite the grave and insurmountable problems it is facing?
There is nothing wrong, of course, if Roxas will want to assist those who are seeking his help, but can he explain why he would want to stop Phil Asia---and its lawyer, me---in finding efforts to continue serving its plan holders, against all odds?
Will Roxas, a contender for the presidency in 2010, also explain why, instead of finding ways to help pre-need plan holders at the very least (if he does not find it in himself to help the pre-need companies likewise), he has been trying his best to keep pre-need companies dead and therefore unable to help the millions who took out plans from them?
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WHY IS ROXAS INTERESTED IN THE COLLAPSE OF THE PRE-NEED INDUSTRY? If I am to believe the claims of lawyer Perfecto Yasay Jr., the former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and lawyer Tomas C. Toledo, the former revenue deputy commissioner, the pre-need business functioned smoothly and was able to meet the needs of plan holders during the time of President Diosdado Macapagal, all the way up to the time of President Estrada.
The two have been one in saying, in previous interviews of mine with them, that it was only when Roxas, as Trade Secretary, commissioned a study assailing the pre-need industry that the industry collapsed.
People are telling me that it was because of this study, which Yasay rejected when he was still SEC Chairman, that the SEC, after Yasay left it, imposed stringent regulations on pre-need companies that caused them to collapse.
The question then, and the question now, is this: why would Roxas exhibit an interest in the collapse of the pre-need industry? Why would he want the pre-need industry wiped out without however providing for an alternative to address the needs of affected plan holders?
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PLAN HOLDERS LEFT OUT IN THE COLD BY ROXAS STRATEGY: Of course, it is the duty of Roxas and his fellow legislators from the upper chamber of Congress to look after the welfare of the Filipino people, particularly those who invest as plan holders in pre-need companies.
But then, it is also the obligation of the senator and the other lawmakers to see to it that in their zeal to close down pre-need companies perceived by them as threats to the public, a way out is provided by them.
It will not be enough for Roxas and his cohorts to bask in the glory of having closed down the pre-need industry, what with big names like College Assurance Plan (CAP), Permanent Plans, and Prudentialife Plan, among others, already virtually interred.
For while pre-need companies are no longer operating now, the thousands and thousands of their plan-holders are left out in the cold, holding the proverbial empty bag, and there is no one to be blamed by them except Roxas and company.
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SEC REGULATIONS: ANTI PRE-NEED: Truth be told, the regulations being implemented by the SEC for pre-need companies now should share the blame for the mess that the pre-need industry has found itself in.
During a meeting I had two Mondays ago with lawyers from the Non-Traditional Securities and Investments Division of the SEC, I was told that when a businessman or a company wanted to engage in the pre-need business, that businessman or company should deposit, immediately, Php50 million, if they wish to sell only one pre-need plan.
The amount to be deposited increases by another Php25 million, if another plan is to be sold, and so forth and so on, with additional of Php25 million for every other plans that is sought to be sold to the public.
Can you imagine this? The businessman or the company engaging in the pre-need business already has to shell out at least Php100 million before he can even begin, making that businessman or company lose to the tune of Php100 million right from the start.
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REACTIONS? Please email them at batasmauricio@yahoo.com, or at www.batasmauricio.com.