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LESS
than a week after it got the nod of the Makati Regional
Trial Court to implement its modified rehabilitation
plan, preneed company PET Plans, Inc. expressed
confidence it is still possible to make a comeback.
In an
interview, PET Plans chief executive Lorenzo T. Ocampo
said the company is keeping its options open in going
back into the business especially now that the rules
pertaining to the industry are being fine-tuned by the
regulator. “We are not discounting that possibility. We
are very open to returning to the preneed business.”
The
approved modified rehab plan protects and addresses the
interests of the present plan holders and encourages the
firm to remain in the preneed business.
Judge
Cesar Untalan approved the rehabilitation plan where all
present preneed contracts with PET Plans will be
replaced with shares in a unified trust fund called the
Enhanced Value Plan (EVP), solely and independently
managed by a professional fund manager.
The
total fund is now worth some P3.04 billion, from P2.6
billion when Pet Plans filed for court approval in June
last year.
Since
the company maintains a trust fund for each type of
preneed plan it has issued—educational, pension,
life—the value of a preneed plan would be its pro rata
or proportionate share in the value of the particular
trust fund created for it. For instance, educational
plan holders will not share in the trust fund of the
life or the pension plan holders.
While
the value of each plan would be computed in that way,
the approved rehabilitation plan also provides that the
resources of the three trust funds will be combined to
realize better profits and save on administrative costs.
The combined liquidity of the trust funds will also
improve the capability of the unified trust fund to pay
the benefits due the plan holders.
“Unlike
ordinary preneed plans, the EVP would not lapse, has no
preset installments, and it is up to plan holders to put
in additional investments,” said Ocampo. “There are no
set maturity dates and the plan holder has the
discretion to continue or withdraw from the EVP.”
“Finally, there is no set maturity value. All earnings
of the fund would be credited to the plan holders
without PET Plans taking part in the earnings.
Additionally, 15 percent of PET Plans’ net income after
tax would be contributed to the EVP fund,” he said. |
