Photos of Platinum Plans and Legacy Pre-Need Industry Victims and of Dubai Bus Drivers and their Families Who Sought Assistance of the Senate

8 June 2009

Below are photos I took in the Senate of the victims of the pre-need industry fiasco in the Philippines and of Dubai bus drivers and their families.  

The two Senate hearings were conducted by the committees of Senator Mar Roxas and Senator Jinggoy Estrada.

Pre-Need Industry Victims and SEC Officials 

Attending the Senate Committee Hearing

Chaired by Senator Mar Roxas

May 28, 2009

Assisted by the Ople Policy Center,

Dubai Bus Drivers & Their Families 

Victims of Recruitment and Lending Scams 

Attending the Senate Hearing Chaired

By Senator Jinggoy Estrada

June 3, 2009

 

Our nation are hurting and our people need help.  The SEC, for the first time, has shown encouraging signs of heeding my suggestion of holding a pre-need industry conference to find long-term solutions to the problems besetting the industry and short-term ones that may give some  relief to distressed planholders and beneficiaries.  

The collapse of big pre-need companies have left many parents who invested in the pension plans and educational plans empty-handed thus jeopardizing the chance to study of millions of Filipino children. The Legacy scandal has rocked the nation and deprived investors of hundreds of millions of pesos in investments. 

There are, if not mistaken, 67 or 68 bus drivers still left stranded in Dubai.  They can't pay the P3.6 million overstaying fees that's been slapped against them by the Dubai government and they don't have money to pay their plane fares back home.  On top of that, the lending company from whom they were made to borrow money to pay placement fee to the recruiter is now running after them.

Let's do all that we can to help our OFWs and the victims of the pre-need industry fiasco in the Philippines.

More on this when I return. (Please drop back again; I'll try to tell more about the stories behind these pictures when I return.)

VIDEO UPDATE

9 June 2009

I've located the ABS-CBN video clip showing the wives of stranded drivers in Dubai seeking the help of our government for their quick return home. The bus drivers and their families here are being assisted by the Ople Policy Center.  

end

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Claim Your CAP Checks — and a Request for Help from Leopoldo Cisneros of Taguig to Collect Hard-Earned P22,000 from College Assurance Plan (CAP)

PRE-NEED INDUSTRY WATCH

14 May 2009  9:00am

I just finished talking to Mr. Leopoldo Cisneros to ask explicit permission to publicize his CAP experience here. Early yesterday morning, I received this email message from Leopoldo, a father who has had problems collecting educational plan benefits from CAP.  This is what he said:

ako po si leopoldo cisneros, may problema po ako s CAP kc panay po ang pangako sakin., kc po bngay ko na po un mga inabonuhan kung tuition fee s anak ko na 3yrs na abono, puro lng pangako..gus2 ko po sanang magpatulong kung panu magreklamo..iwi2draw ko na po lahat ang pera s cap. ang anak ko ay c .. anu po ba ang mga kaylangan ko gawin i2 po un certificate of fullpayment number ... maramingsalamat po.. sana matulungan nyo po ako..

With Legacy, Prudentialife, Permanent Plans and other troubled pre-need companies hogging the headlines today, it is easy to forget that before all of these, there was College Assurance Plan or CAP. 

In order to help Poldo, I had to know more about the status of CAP.  A Google search led me to several sites, one of which is the CAP website itself.  This is a screenshot of its website's home page:

I was pleasantly surprised to read this line:

List of CAP Planholders with Unclaimed Checks

When I followed the link, List of CAP Planholders with Unclaimed Checks, it appears to be true that there are indeed unclaimed checks of CAP planholders. If you're one of those whose name is on the list and haven't collected your check,  what are you waiting for? 

Unfortunately, there is no Cisneros in the list.  After posting this, I will call up the SEC to get a better idea how Leopoldo Cisneros can collect his P22,000.00.    

Louie, Poldo's son and the beneficiary of the CAP educational plan is now in his graduating year at a college in Northern Samar. Meanwhile, Poldo has collected NOT a single centavo from his investment.  He told me that he paid for the plan for a period of five (5) years through salary deductions while he was still working for a construction company years ago when Louie was still a very young boy. To some, P22,000 may not seem like much but for Poldo, this is hard-earned money that his family can use right now.  

More on this when I return.

If you have an experience similar to Mr. Leopoldo Cisneros or any concern related to the pre-need industry, you may post your comments here or email me at rollyocampo@yahoo.com.

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Barin Should Resign! Philip Piccio Should Be Next SEC Chairman

23 April 2009

I just stumbled upon the following April 20 ABS-CBN TV Patrol news video at kyte.tv wherein it now appears that SEC Chairman Fe Barin was simply compelled to disclose the existence of its revocation order of the pre-need license of Prudentialife Plans because of questioning by Senator Mar Roxas. 

Asked what the SEC should do, Philip Piccio, the fighting President of the PEP Coalition blurted out: 

I-reveal!  So that people will know!  For those na mga nagbabayad pa, tumigil na sila ng bayad.  Di ba?  Hindi yung palala pa nang palala o palubog pa sila nang palubog.  

Chairman Fe Barin does not have the interest of millions of  pre-need planholders at heart.  She should resign from her post as SEC Chairman and the other SEC Commissioners should go along with her.  The sooner they go, the better!

Our candidate for next SEC Chairman?  Philip Piccio!  

Go Philip, go!

  

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A Call for Calm, Transparency, Dialogue and Accountability in the Ongoing Pre-Need Industry Fiasco

22 April 2009

Just before I leave off for work, I would like to make this public request to SEC Chairman Fe Barin to immediately convene a meeting among stakeholders of distressed pre-need companies like Prudentialife, Permanent and others.  

By stakeholders, I mean the owners or stockholders like Mr. Jose Alberto T. Alba of Prudentialife Plans, the officers and employees of these companies, the hundreds of thousands of planholders who have invested their lives' savings in buying these pre-need plans, the SEC, the media and whoever else is interested in bringing sanity to the pre-need industry. 

Planholders in particular would like to see the companies where they've invested so much money get up again and resume near-normal operations. We won't have a chance to do that if the SEC will not open the forum or venue for the stakeholders to come together and discuss how they can protect their own respective interests.  The owners like Mr. Alba should come up with hard facts not soothing promises.

 

We cannot allow a situation wherein only the SEC and the company owners know what's really going on.  Public interest requires that planholders be given the same information that, at the moment, only the regulators and the owners know.  The debacles at CAP, Pacific and Legacy should not be allowed to happen again! Even here, the TRINA Benchmark should apply. 

If Chairman Barin and the other SEC Commissioners cannot, or will not do this, then they should all really step down from their posts as strongly suggested by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.  

Planholders, don't lose hope!  God is in control!

If you want to share your thoughts, please leave your comments or send me a message at rollyocampo@yahoo.com.

More on this when I return.

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