Pacific Plans planholders accuse SEC of ‘inaction’

The Parents Enabling Parents Coalition (PEPC), an organization formed by aggrieved planholders of troubled pre-need firm Pacific Plans Inc. (PPI), has assailed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for not doing its part in protecting the interest of the investing public.

In a press briefing yesterday, PEPPC president Philip Piccio criticized the SEC for failing to file a criminal case against PPI after the latter suspended its tuition assistance program to thousands of its planholders on account of an SEC order canceling the registration certificate of Lifetime Plans Inc., the spin-off unit of PPI.

"What has the SEC done? What is the reaction of the SEC? Where is the criminal case that goes along with it? Is the SEC the protector of the people or not?" Piccio said.

He said PPI’s decision to stop paying tuition support to planholders clearly shows the company’s real motive in filing a petition for rehabilitation with a lower court - "to evade contractual obligations to thousands of its planholders."

He said that PPI has no right to claim that it would not be able to pay the tuition of its planholders because Lifetime and PPI are two different companies.

For her part, lawyer Maricel Lopez, one of the members of the legal team of PEPC and former head of the Philippine Stock Exchange’s Compliance and Surveillance group, urged the government to do its part in protecting the public from violators of the securities law.

Lopez also represents the aggrieved planholders of College Assurance Plans., Philippine Veterans Bank and Universal Leisure Club Inc. (ULCI).

Lopez said the SEC should make a strong stand by implementing the full force of the law against erring corporations.

"The SEC should be forceful so they can show everybody that the government is serious. If somebody goes to jail for this, then anyone in the corporate world would think twice in getting stockholders’ money to enrich themselves," Lopez further said."

CAP is facing a criminal suit filed by a group of planholders on allegations that funds of the pre-need firm had been used to bankroll projects of the Fil-Estate group.

A group of war veterans, on the other hand, has asked the Senate to investigate the purchase of businessmen Emmanuel de Ocampo and Romeo Roxas of 2.5 million shares of Veterans Bank. The group has also questioned the fact that veteran-stockholders of the bank are getting only P80 yearly while the bank’s top officers and directors are getting huge salaries, per diems and allowances.

Meanwhile, Piccio has urged the SEC to file appropriate charges against erring officials and directors of PPI should it be proven that they were remiss in their duties under the Securities Regulation Code.

Piccio said the court’s approval of the rehabilitation plan would give its imprimatur to Pacific Plans’ contractual breach.

Piccio said the approval of the plan would also set a bad precedent for the pre-need industry which has been posting a decline in sales due to the financial problems besetting a number of pre-need firms.