Danvil Plans, Coco Plans, AMA Plans Deficient in Their Trust Funds
Here are some key points of recent news on these 3 pre-need firms.
Thanks to Epoy who notified me about these developments.
The information here was gathered by Philippine Daily Inquirer reporters at the resumption of the Senate inquiry into pre-need firms on May 6.
- Coco Plans, AMA Plans and Danvil Plans were found by SEC to have deficient trust funds.
- Coco Plans and Danvil Plans have submitted their proposals on how to build up their capital.
- AMA Plans has not yet submitted its proposal.
- Some of the remaining 19 pre-need firms have submitted their financial statements and have to comply with the SEC requirement until May 14.
- Caesar Michelena of Coco Plans said Coco Plans’ trust fund is enough to make maturity pay-outs for the next 9 years.
- SEC Chairwoman Fe Barin said SEC was reviewing the financial statements of the pre-need firms and coordinating with trustee banks if the trust funds are there.
- Senator Manuel Roxas suggested that SEC require pre-need firms to fill up the deficiencies in their trust funds before they continue selling plans.
- Roxas mentioned that the failed Legacy was still selling plans the month before it applied for dissolution.
Source: 3 more troubled pre-need firms watched
By Christine Avendano
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Email Address of Danvil Plans
After reading more comments about Danvil Plans not answering
emails, I tried to send my own inquiries to Danvil Plans at mypolicy@danvil.com.ph last Tuesday April 21.
I asked why Danvil Plans has not been answering emails when email is the most affordable way to contact them, especially for Danvil Plans planholders working hard abroad.
To my pleasant surprise, the next day Eleazer L. Francisco, Danvil Plans customer service supervisor, replied and here is part of the response:
Thank you for your e-mail of 21 April 2009.
Our record shows that your plan under policy number FPN401756 is already fully paid.
Thank you for deliberating your concern with us, rest assured that we are doing our best to serve our policy holders with their concerns. Blogs are open to all to post their opinions, and they are not filtered out even if it is true or not.
Please feel free to e-mail us again should you have anymore concerns.
Best regards,
Eleazer L. Francisco
Customer Service Supervisor
Customer Relation Group
Danvil Plans, Inc.
(632) 755-1521
I emailed back Mr. Francisco and asked him about Ms. Aurora Dino, the Danvil Plans executive I was communicating with last year about my own preneed plan. He said Ms. Dino is no longer with Danvil Plans.
So there, try sending your inquiries to Danvil Plans at
mypolicy@danvil.com.ph, and then kindly write about them here.
To Danvil, From a Hurting OFW in Japan
By Lemmor Adsiv, an OFW in Japan
March 7, 2009
It is of great help for me it you could answer me on this inquiry. I finished paying my Danvil plan and it will mature in 2019. Actually I paid it in advance so as not to miss payments. But I’m having many sleepless nights because of many doubts about how pre-need companies are doing in the market today. I am having second thoughts about waiting for my plan to mature. Any idea on this? How much money would I get in return if I apply for early reimbursement of my payments? Much as I would like to inquire personally at the Danvil office regarding the matter, I’m here in Japan working hard to make both ends meet for my family. It was hard earned money that I used to pay for my plan. That’s why I am really bothered and annoyed by different news I heard about the pre-need business.
Dalawa ang aking plans sa Danvil. Sad to say na noong kinuha ko yon sa SM Southmall, di ko naintindihan masyado ang paliwanag. Kadarating ko lang noon, galing ako sa work ko abroad and I’m only on my vacation. Actually, I can say na forced and pressured lang din ako ng Danvil employee. Para bang para makauwi na lang ako kumuha na lang ako, then bahala na. Parang ganoon ang nangyari sa akin.
Danvil Is Still Berkley on Pre-need Federation Website
Just like Danvil Plans, the Philippine Federation of Pre-Need Plan Companies Inc. (PFPPCI) doesn’t also update its website. The latest post on the site was posted two years ago. Is this one of the signals of the difficult conditions of the pre-need industry? They don’t have people to update their web sites, or they don’t have something to say?
Anyway, according to what’s on the website, as of 2007, there are 48 members. But when one looks at the list of members, there are only 29. These are:
1 Ayala Plans Inc.
2 Berkley International Inc.
representative: Alan Michael Rafe, president
alternate: Daniel Villanueva evp, CFO
3 CocoPlans Inc.
4 CAP Pension
5 CAP Assurance
6 Destiny Financials
7 East Asia Plans
8 Eduplan Inc.
9 Eternal Plans
10 Excel Memorial Life Plan
11 First Union Plan
12 Himlayang Pilipino Plans
13 Ideal Pension Plans
14 Loyola Plans
15 Mercantile Care Plans
16 Manulife Financial
17 Paz Memorial
18 Permanent Plans
19 Philam Plans
20 PETPlans
21 Primanila Plans
22 Provident Plans
23 Prudentialife Plans
24 Redeemer Life Plan
25 St. Peter Life Plan
26 Sun Life Financial
27 TPG Corp.
28 Transnational Plans
29 Trusteeship Plans
The following firms are not listed, but they are included on the home page’s flashing ads:
30 AMA
31 Classic Plans
32 Gillamac
33 Lifetime
34 Millennium
35 Platinum Plans
36 Pryce
It’s interesting to note that the three failed Legacy pre-need firms are not on the list.
Same with Pacific Plans. It’s not in the list. However, according to Chino S. Leyco’s article in the January 28, 2009 issue of “Manila Times,” Noel Oñate, the businessman who acquired Pacific Plans from the Yuchengcos, was elected to the board of the PFPPCI on January 27. Oñate’s company Abundance Providers and Investments Corp. bought Pacific Plans in December 2008 for 250 million pesos.
The one we see speaking on television speaking for the pre-need industry these past weeks, Juan Miguel Madrigal Vazquez, has been president of the PFPPCI since 2005, possibly earlier. I can’t find info on when he was elected president. His educational and professional background is on the site. He’s the president and CEO of Permanent Plans.
Daniel Villanueva: Founder and President, Danvil Holdings
After Berkley International became Danvil Plans in March 2007, I started researching on the Internet who this Mr. Daniel Villanueva is. Who is this man who single-handedly took on the acquisition of Berkley for 1.25 billion pesos? Does this man have the ability to lead Danvil so that by 2010, I could get my money and so that other pre-need planholders could also get theirs in the years to come?
Until now, there are only a few notes on the Internet about Mr. Villanueva that I’ve read.
One is an article by Elizabeth Sanchez-Lacson on Inquirer.net on April 11, 2007. This article said that Mr. Daniel Villanueva held top positions in the life insurance industry for many years, including:
president of John Hancock Life Insurance Corp.
project consultant Arthur Andersen Business Consulting
president of PT-NIAGA-CIGNA Life Insurance in Indonesia
senior vice president for operation of Lincoln Philippine Life Insurance Co.
executive vice president and chief finance officer of Berkley International Plans
Sanchez-Lacson said that Mr. Villanueva helped run Berkley and its marketing unit Family First for 7 years, administering 60,000 active plans, trust fund assets of 3.8 billion pesos and planholder liabilities of 3.2 billion pesos. She also noted that much of the growth of Danvil is credited to Mr. Villanueva.
She also said that Danvil Holdings was incorporated in November 1996 as a real estate corporation, and later also as a financial service corporation.
The second article is on the web site of prudentialife. It says that Mr. Villanueva received an award from Nenita Agustin, senior vice president of Philippine Prudential Life Insurance Co., for being one of the top producers in 2007.
Now this one leaves a question in my mind. Why would Mr. Villanueva receive an award from Prudential as a producer? Was Mr. Villanueva a general agent of Prudential? Did Danvil incorporate a Prudential life plan into Danvil’s products in 2007? I bought my Danvil plan in 2000 and I didn’t buy any other Danvil plan after, so I didn’t know that Danvil sold Prudential Life plans.
Perhaps this explains a complaint by someone named Huggs on pc-tipid.com. He says that his friend bought a Prudential Life plan from Danvil, but they could not trace the OR of his first payment when they called up Prudential Life.
From my research on Danvil and Mr. Daniel Villanueva on the Internet, all the bad things associated to Danvil arise from its aggressive marketing and sales tactics in the malls. Many of those commenting are calling Danvil a scam because of these tactics, especially customers forced or pressured by sales agents into swiping their credit cards. They also interpret the changing of the name from Family First to Danvil as one scam tactic.
With regards to any bad thing said about Mr. Villanueva, I found none.
This is in contrast to the case of Legacy’s Celso de los Angeles Jr. when I researched about him after planholders were informed that Danvil’s pre-need plans were being bought by Legacy. Try researching Mr. De Los Angeles and you’d be surprised at various kinds of unsavory things said about him both in his personal life and professional life, even before Legacy collapsed. It was really providential that the 2008 Legacy deal did not push through. I applaud Danvil for this. In my very first email to Danvil after the Legacy deal announcement, I mentioned those things said about Mr. De Los Angeles.
About claims, I haven’t read about or heard of any Danvil planholder whose plan have matured in 2008 complaining on the Internet that Danvil failed to pay his/her claims. What about you? Have you heard or read about someone not receiving his/her 2008 maturity proceeds from Danvil?
Danvil Plans, Other Pre-Need Firms: Updates
Just like you, I got so bothered when I read on Inquirer.net that 4 pre-need firms are about to collapse. Philip Piccio, president of PEP Coalition, named one of the four as Pryce and then challenged the SEC to name the 3 other firms. One top SEC executive denied there are 3 other failing firms, but the other one confirmed it.
And this after the collapse of 3 Legacy pre-need firms, and long before them, the collapse of CAP and Pacific Plans. Although Pacific seems to be okay now, since Noel Oñate’s Abundance Providers Investments Corp., the new owner of Pacific, promised to buy back Pacific plans at 15% yearly interest. Piccio and his group, however, plan to pursue their case against the original owner of Pacific.
These are some info that I gathered as of today, February 14:
1. On SEC website, Danvil Plans is one of the 24 pre-need corporations with 2009 dealer’s license. Compared to the list of September 2008, the pre-need firms removed were:
Ideal Pension
Legacy
Pacific Plans
There is one new firm on the list: AMA Plans.
On another page there are three other firms with 2009 dealer’s license:
IMG Insurance Brokers
Prudentialife Market Resources, both linked to Prudentialife and
Jardine Lloyd Thomson Insurance Brokers, linked to Philam Plans
2. Philip Piccio, president of the Parents-Enabling Parents Coalition (PEP) who is campaigning for
Pacific Plans open-ended educational planholders, was generous enough to reply to my text about Danvil. He texted back that Danvil Plans is not one of the 4 pre-need firms about to collapse.
3. Jack of Danvil Plans in Makati said that Danvil is very stable. Jack was the one who answered me on the phone when I called the Danvil office in Makati on February 13. I asked him if he knows about the 4 pre-need firms being mentioned about to collapse, and he said that he doesn’t know. He said that what he knows is that Danvil is stable and that it has been paying claims as of date. I asked him why Danvil is not updating its web site, and he said that he will relay my concern to management.
4. According to a list provided by Salve Duplito on her article on Inquirer.net Money Smarts, Danvil Plans is one of the 19 pre-need firms who have signed a document expressing their willingness to increase their capital in 2009 to cope with anticipated difficulties due to low investment rates in the financial markets. The bigger pre-need firms are on the list.
5. My conclusion is that the 4 pre-need firms being reported about to collapse includes Ideal Pension because I read one planholder complaining that Ideal Plan has not given him the proceeds of his plan which has matured in 2008. The other one would be Pryce Plans, which most everybody knows by now has already collapsed way back in 2007. But in fairness to Pryce, it’s doing its best to give something to its planholders. My friend who is a Pryce planholder is getting some benefits through Pryce’s other companies, such as hotel stays, etc. She has also received some amounts of money for tuition.
As for the other two pre-need firms, I’m still checking. I’ll update this article again today after I get home from church. Happy Valentine’s Day to all Danvil planholders.
Pre-Need Corporations With 2009 Dealer’s License as of January 28, 2009
1 AMA Plans Inc. (pension)
2 Ayala Plans Inc. (education, pension)
3 Caritas Financial Plans Inc. (pension)
4 CityPlans Inc. (pension)
5 Cocoplans Inc. (education, life, pension)
6 Danvil Plans Inc. (formerly Berkley International Plans, educational, pension)
7 Destiny Financial Plans Inc. (pension)
8 Eternal Plans Inc. (education, life, pension)
9 First Country Plans Inc. (pension)
10 First Union Plans Inc. (pension)
11 Grayline Plans Inc. (pension)
12 Himlayang Pilipino Plans Inc. (education, life, pension)
13 Loyola Plans Consolidated (education, life, pension)
14 Manulife Financial Plans (educ pension)
15 Mercantile Careplans (educ life pension)
16 Paz Memorial Services (life)
17 Permanent Plans (life, pension)
18 Philam Plans (educational, life, pension)
19 Provident International Plans (life, pension)
20 Prudentialife Plans (educational, life, pension)
21 St. Peter Life Plan (life)
22 Sun Life Financial Plans (educational, pension)
23 Transnational Plans (educational, pension)
24 Trusteeship Plans (educational, life, pension)
Additional List of Pre-Need Firms With 2009 Dealer’s License as of January 28, 2009
IMG Insurance Brokers Corp.
Prudentialife Plans Inc.
Jardine Lloyd Thomson Insurance Brokers Inc.
Philam Plans Inc.
Prudentialife Market Resources Corp.
Prudentialife Plans Inc.
Removed from the Licensed Dealer List of January 2009
Ideal Pension Plans
Legacy Consolidated Plans
Pacific Plans
Listed in the February 2007 list, but no longer licensed since 2008
Classic Plans
Eduplan Phils
Millennium Plans
Primanila Plans
PrimePlan
sources:
SEC List of Pre-Need Firms With 2009 Dealer’s License
Article by Salve Duplito on Inquirer Money Smarts
Danvil Plans Policyholders: Good News?
Updates on Danvil and Pre-Need Firms As of April 4, 2009:
Danvil Plans, Other Pre-Need Firms: Updates
Pre-Need News — Philippines: Key Points
Daniel Villanueva: Founder and President, Danvil
Danvil Is Still Berkley on Pre-need Federation Website
Pre-Need Philippines: Kabado Na Naman?
How to File a Complaint Against Any Pre-Need Plan Company in the Philippines
Akala ko Naghihirap ang Pre-Need Industry
To Danvil, From a Hurting OFW in Japan
——————————————–
If you are a policyholder of Danvil Plans Inc., you should already have received a letter from the firm announcing its decision not to proceed with the planned transfer of its pre-need portfolio to Legacy Consolidated Plans Inc.
Well, this is very good news in light of sorry developments in Legacy Consolidated and its parent company Legacy Group. According to news reports, Legacy has filed for voluntary dissolution, including the dissolutions of companies under its management, namely Scholarship Plans Inc., Legacy Card Inc., Legacy Consolidated Asset Holdings Inc., Galaxy Realty and Holdings Inc., Fusion Capital Corp. and Conventional Realty Corp. The parent company Legacy Group itself is troubled due to the financial difficulties of its rural banks, many of which have closed.
Back in June 2008, controversies about Legacy were the focus of my arguments when I talked with Ms. Aurora Dino, assistant vice president and branch manager of Danvil’s office in Makati, about the planned transfer of the pre-need portfolio to Legacy. I’m really very glad now that Danvil did not rush the transfer proceedings back in June.
Somehow, I was not really surprised about the decision and the letter from Danvil because I checked Danvil’s office in Makati from time to time.
Officers of Danvil Plans, may you have more power and opportunities to nurture and grow Danvil. The education and financial well-being of long-time planholders’ dependents rely on your success and continued commitment. Just please change drastically your aggressive and oftentimes unethical marketing tactics.
Transfer of Berkley/Family First to Danvil Then to Legacy.
Most of the comments I’ve read on the Internet about Family First and Danvil condemn the high-pressure and sometimes traumatic marketing methodology of Family First/Danvil. And I understand. Because I was once pressured. And like them, I also spent nights thinking how I could be so gullible and so weak.
But later on, I had to decide: whether to lose what was first swiped off from my credit card or to continue paying to prepare for the future, as the agents said. The key factor then for me was the American firm Berkley, which launched the pre-need plans and which partnered with Family First to market its plans. I continued paying and fully paid my plan in 2005, eased by the thought that Berkley is an established American company and I’d get the results of my hard work in 2010, the year my daughter would be in second year college.
But then, the announced transfer of the plan portfolio from Danvil to Legacy put doubts in my mind. Read more
Pagbili ng Legacy sa Danvil
Nakumpleto mo na rin bang bayaran ang iyong Family First plan? At umaasa ka rin na magagamit mo yong plan pag mag-aral na ang anak mo sa kolehiyo?
Ganyan din ako. Natapos kong bayaran ang aking Family First plan noong 2005. At dapat makukuha ko ang pera sa October 2010. Ang kinuha kong plan ay may maturity value na 150,000 pesos. Hindi ko alam kung itong amount na ito yong average plan noong 2005.
Ito lang ang kinuha kong plan. Sa paglakad ng mga taon, kahit marami silang promo na ginawa, at kahit ilang beses nila akong kinausap, hindi na ako kumuha ng iba pang plan.
Noong natanggap ko yong sulat mula sa Danvil na iba-buyout daw ng Legacy ang Danvil, nag-email ako agad na babawiin ko na yong lahat ng ibinayad ko sa kanila at dapat walang bawas. Tinawagan ako at ginawan ng appointment para makausap ko si Ms. Aurora Dino, ang assistant vice president at branch head ng Makati office ng Danvil. Read more
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