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?

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.

I emailed Danvil’s president, Mr. Daniel Villanueva, and demanded for the return of my money in full. But a few days after a one-on-one meeting with Ms. Aurora Dino, assistant vice president and branch head, at Danvil’s office in Makati, I reversed my demand and decided to go with the transfer.

Among Ms. Dino’s key arguments were:
•  They delivered letters to everyone about the transfer.  She said that’s one  sign of being in good faith.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has become stricter with    Danvil because of what happened to CAP, Pacific Plans and Platinum.
• Legacy is stable because it owns One Card, which has been accepted as an    affiliate of Mastercard International. (I don’t hear much about One Card,    however.)
•  She, Ms. Dino and most other Danvil officers and personnel, will be transferring to Legacy as part of the portfolio deal.
•  She described her professional and personal circumstances and said that I can   depend on what she says and that I can trust her.

Last July 2008, Ms. Dino emailed me and said that the transfer is still in process and is not yet a done deal.

I’ll suspend criticizing Family First or Danvil online because I’m still hoping that Danvil can resolve whatever has prompted it to negotiate a deal with Legacy.
Lastly, I believe that Berkley, which launched the pre-need portfolio and then later sold it, has a moral obligation to ensure that the planholders get the results of their investments on time and in the right amount.

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.

Sa opisina ni Ms. Dino, inulit ko ang aking intensiyon na kunin ko na ang aking pera at sinabi ko rin ang aking mga argumento. Sinabi ko na di dapat gamitin yong probisyon na “termination value” sa kontrata kasi sila naman yong naunang umayaw na ipagpatuloy ang bisnis. Sinabi ko yong mga nangyari na sa ibang mga plans, katulad ng CAP at Platinum.

Ang mga argumento ni Miss Dino ay mga sumusunod:

• Ang pag-abiso nila sa mga planholders tungkol sa Legacy-Danvil buyout ay tanda raw ng kanilang good   faith.
• Si Miss Dino at ang kanyang staff ay pupunta rin ng Legacy. Hindi lang mga plans ang bibilhin, pati serbisiyo ng mga tao na dati nang nagpapalakad sa mga plans.
• Ang Legacy raw ay stable na kumpanya, taliwas sa mga nababasang kontrobersiyal na pahayag sa mga diaryo o sa Internet. Ang Legacy raw ay inaprub ng MasterCard para isulong ang One Card debit and credit card. Pagkauwi ko sa bahay, hinanap ko sa Internet ang OneCard, pero konting inpormasyon lang nakuha ko. Parang hindi yata nag-click sa market ang OneCard, kasi parang wala akong naririnig o nababasa.
• Inaprubahan ng Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ang Danvil-Legacy transaction.

Doon sa opisina ng Danvil noong araw na pumunta ako, wala namang mga planholders na nagra-rally o nagrereklamo. Ano kayang plano ng iba?

Hindi ko muna itinuloy yong intensiyon ko na bawiin ang pera ko. Kasi, una, yong termination value ay pagkaliit-liit. Lugi naman ako.  Pangalawa, gusto kong maniwala na may paraan pa sila na maalagaan ang mga plans.

Sa mga sumunod na araw, nakatanggap ako ng email mula kay Miss Dino na on hold muna ang Legacy-Danvil deal.

Pagkatapos ng isang buwan, may tumawag sa akin mula sa Saint Peter Memorial Plan. Nakipag-partner daw sila sa Danvil at andon daw sila sa Makati office ng Danvil. Andon pa raw ang Danvil.

Ikaw? Anong ginawa mo sa plan mo?  Binawi mo ba?  O nag-aantay ka rin katulad ko?