PPI rehab plan out this month despite mounting opposition

MANILA, Philippines - Despite the pressure from disgruntled plan holders and other interest groups, the Department of Finance (DOF) is determined to finalize the rehabilitation of troubled Prudential Plans Inc. (PPI) this month.

Insurance Commission chief Emmanuel L. Dooc said that Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima indicated that they would go on with their July timetable to approve the rehabilitation or liquidation plan as long as there are no legal barriers.

“We will approve the plan this month,” Dooc said.

There are reports that disgruntled plan holders have approach Congress seeking to stop government from implementing the proposed rehabilitation plan.

Sources said that Sen. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has been approached with a resolution to call for a Senate investigation of the PPI case. The proposed resolution has been forwarded to Sen. Edgardo Angara.

At the House of Representatives, the same group of plan holders approached Re. Erin Tanada seeking a similar congressional investigation.

When asked, Dooc said that the finance department nor the IC has received any notices from Congress. “We will go on like nothing has happened unless Congress tells us to stop,” he added.

Three formal rehabilitation proposals have been submitted to the DOF, which has been reviewed by the IC and a DOF technical working group. Whatever has been agreed, the final decision will be signed by Purisima before the end of July.

The proposals came from Loyola Plans Consolidated Inc., PPI-MB Life, and the protesting planholders.

The PPI rehabilitation or liquidation plan will decide the fate of the more than 300,000 planholders, the billion of peso deficit in its trust fund, the fate of the 34-year-old pre-need firm, and the type of regulatory environment the industry faces in the future.

Purisima said that after the capitalization issue with the country’s insurance industry, government would re-focus on the struggling pre-need industry.