Pacific Plans releases tuition support for current school year

Pacific Plans Inc. (PPI), a pre-need firm owned by the Yuchengco family, started releasing on Monday tuition support for school year 2006-2007 amounting to P140 million.

The move was in line with the approval by the Makati Regional Trial Court of PPI’s rehabilitation plan.

In a statement, PPI president Alfredo Non said about 15,000 availing planholders will be receiving their checks, 3,038 of these are first-time availors which will receive checks totaling P41 million.

Non said all availing planholders for four school years starting this year until 2010 would be able to get back their original investments, plus a return on investments (ROI) of anywhere from 100 percent to more than 2,000 percent.

Teresita Villarama, an open-ended educational planholder of PPI and wife of former congressman Willie Villarama, said she is grateful to PPI for continuing its payment for the education of her son in spite of its financial problems caused by skyrocketing tuition fees.

Last school year, PPI released a total of P591 million in tuition support to its 16,000 availing open-ended planholders.

The open-ended educational plan is an industry-wide problem.

Almost all pre-need companies that sold open-ended educational plans are already in distress with others filing for rehabilitation in the courts.

It is projected that close to 900,000 fixed plans and open-ended educational planholders are affected. All availing open-ended planholders for the industry this school year is estimated at close to 210,000.