Philippine Prudential is an insurance company; it is not a pre-need firm.

It is different from pre-need firm Prudential Life Plans Inc. whose license was revoked by the SEC in 2009. These two firms are not affiliated with each other.

Philippine Prudential is one of 35 life insurance firms  whose licenses have been renewed by the Insurance Commission every year for the past years.  Their newest licenses are for the license year 2009 to 2010.

Of the 35 life insurance firms, Philippine Prudential is:

• 17th in ranking based on premium income as of December 31, 2009
  640,144,183  pesos
• 17th in ranking based on first-year premium as of December 31, 2009
  207,613,865
• 22nd in ranking based on paid-up capital as of December 31, 2009
  123,807,730 pesos

As can be seen on both the websites of Philippine Prudential and Danvil Plans and in SM malls, the two firms use the same sales offices in SM Pampanga, SM Fairview, SM North Edsa, SM Megamall and SM Southmall.

The pre-need code was signed into law just last December 2009 and the implementing rules were signed just last March.

In a report published by Business World,  Insurance Commissioner Santiago Javier Ranada also said that the IC needs about 150 more employees, including lawyers, actuaries and researchers, to manage pre-need matters.

Ranada, however, added that the IC is prepared to hear and settle pre-need cases.

To request for assistance, you can refer to the Claimant’s Request for Assistance form on the IC website as reference for details you need to include in your letter:

• Name of Planholder
• Address
• Telephone No.
• Name of Pre-Need Company
• Plan No.
• Name of Plan
• Amount of Plan
• Maturity Date
• Summary of Claimant’s Request

You can also refer to the complaint form designed by the SEC for pre-need complaints.

Related Article:

Pre-need Companies in the Philippines Now under the Insurance Commission

How to File a Complaint Against Any Pre-need Firm in the Philippines

The pre-need law was passed in December 2009 and the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) were signed in March 2010.

Visit the website of the Insurance Commission at insurance.gov.ph, and you will see the pre-need code and the IRR already published on the site.

You will also see the list of the 23 pre-need firms under Directory of the IC  home page.  However, the list on the IC was still the list previously prepared by the SEC.

The list includes the 23 pre-need firms that were licensed to sell pre-need plans as of December 2009:

1. Abundance Providers and Entrepreneurs Corporation (APEC) (formerly Pacific Plans)
2. AMA Plans
3. Ayala Plans
4. Caritas Financial Plans
5. CityPlans
6. Cocoplans
7. Danvil Plans (formerly Berkley International Plans)
8. Destiny Financial Plans
9. Eternal Plans
10. First Country Plans
11. First Union Plans
12. Grayline Plans
13. Himlayang Pilipino Plans
14. Loyola Plans Consolidated
15. Manulife Financial Plans
16. Mercantile Careplans
17. Paz Memorial Services
18. Philplans First (formerly Philam Plans)
19. Provident International Plans
20. St. Peter Life Plan
21. Sun Life Financial Plans
22. Transnational Plans
23. Trusteeship Plans

The only two changes from the May 2009 list are:

• the addition of APEC to the list
• change of name of Philam Plans to Philplans

For those who have complaints, inquiries or claims, you can address them to:

Public Assistance & Information Division

523-8461 to 70 local 102, 103, 105

pubassist@insurance.gov.ph

Check again because this is often confused with a different company, Philippine Prudential Life Insurance Company (PPLIC), an insurance company headquartered in Pasig City and affiliated with Danvil Plans.  Prudentialife and Prudential Life are not affiliated with each other.

If you have decided to terminate your Prudentialife plans, these are the documents you need to bring to Prudentialife to apply for termination:

1. Plan or policy contract (Original)
2. Certificate of Full Payment (Original)
3. At least two valid IDs (Photocopies signed three times)
4. Benefits Settlement Application Form (3 copies)
5. Processing fee of 300 pesos (to be deducted from the proceeds of the plan)

You can view or download a copy of the Benefits Settlement Application Form here.

If you like to view or download copies of a special power of attorney or affidavits, go here.

Always remember though that if you terminate your plan, you won’t get back all the money you paid.  You’ll only get a small portion.  The percentages are written in your plan.

But as others say, mas mabuti nang merong konti kesa wala.

I don’t have a Prudentialife plan. What I have is a Danvil plan. There was one time I also considered termination because of the pre-need crisis, but I decided to wait.

Nevertheless, we have to decide for ourselves. We gather information and then decide.  Whatever happens, we have ourselves to blame or congratulate.

Main Address:

Website:  www.prudentialife.com

For addresses of Prudentialife branches, go here.

Again, it’s the planholders who are suffering.

Back in April, Permaplans’ president Juan Miguel Vazquez said his firm isn’t considering going to court for rehabilitation because court rehab takes time and delays payments to planholders.

But now the firm has filed for rehab, which according to Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez is not the best option for planholders. He mentioned this while commenting on the Legacy case.

An example of a pre-need court rehab is that of CAP. After getting suspended in 2004, CAP petitioned for rehab in 2005. The court granted it in 2006. Up to now,  CAP planholders have not received what is due them.

I also have a fully-paid CAP plan for my niece, but I’ve temporarily stopped pursuing it. I also sold one big CAP plan to a family friend, and I’ve made my big sorry and they’ve been nice. But I don’t know if the family thinks of CAP and then thinks of me. I’m glad now I sold only one.

Going back to PermaPlans:

According to Doris Dumlao of Philippine Daily Inquirer,
Permaplans petitioned a Makati court on May 21 to allow it to do the following:

• pay planholders who want to terminate their plans on a 60-40 basis: 60 percent in assets such as memorial lots and 40 percent in cash

• pay holders of maturing plans in five years: 10 percent on the 1st year, 45 percent on the 4th year and 45 percent on the 5th year.

Permaplans has about 11,000 planholders.

I’m saddened by the fact that Vazquez and the SEC are fighting.

Vazquez said the SEC froze Permaplans’ trust fund, so PermaPlans was forced to file for rehabilitation.

But the SEC said it didn’t freeze Permaplans’ trust fund.

According to the SEC, what it did was:

• to notify Permaplans that SEC opposed its plan of paying planholders who prefer to terminate their plans on a 60-40 basis

• to direct the trustee banks to secure approval first from SEC before approving withdrawals from Permaplans

There’s an article by Neal Cruz titled Gov’t regulatory agencies sleeping on the job . He didn’t name the pre-need firm, but obviously he’s referring to Permaplans.

I’m just bothered by the initial action of court rehab:

protect the pre-need firm from claims or give a reprieve to the pre-need firm from paying its obligations while something is being worked out.

Sources:

Permaplans seeks court approval for rehab
By Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer

SEC tightens lid on Legacy
By Darwin G.Amojelar
The Manila Times

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

My mistake was I thought the Prudentialife Plans Inc. which was suspended recently by SEC is the same Prudential which has been partnering with Danvil Plans since 2007.

Thanks so much to Rolly who made the correction. Based on Rolly’s info and on my quick online research, these are some info that would clear things up:

Philippine Prudential Life Insurance Co. is the company which bought the life insurance portfolio of Berkley/Danvil in 2007. This is also the issuer of life insurance plans and endowment plans being sold by Danvil Plans.

Philippine Prudential is a life insurance company supervised by the Insurance Commission. It is not a pre-need company.
web site: http://www.philprudentiallife.com/pplic/

On the other hand, Prudentialife Plans Inc. is a pre-need company supervised by the SEC.  This is the company whose license to sell was suspended by the SEC last April 2009.
web site: http://www.prudentialife.com/

The good news then to many of you whose plans were issued by  Philippine Prudential Life Insurance Co. ( sold through Danvil Plans) is that your plans are not affected by the  trust fund problems prevalent in the pre-need industry… because your plans are insurance plans issued by an insurance company, which has been operating since 1963, according to its web site.

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.

Prudentialife President Jose Alberto Alba has responded to the SEC’s suspension of its license to sell new pre-need plans by saying that the firm will continue to operate as a servicing firm for its preneed plans.

He said the firm will continue to pay benefits to planholders.

He also said Prudentialife Market Resource Corp. will continue to sell health plans, mutual funds and other insurance products and will continue to pursue new opportunities beyond the preneed industry.

I’m just bothered by the last statement in the article, saying that only 2 preneed firms submitted their capital build-up plans before the deadline of April 15 — Prudentialife and Cocoplans. Cocoplans’ proposal was approved while Prudentialife’s plan was not.

What about the other preneed firms?  What are their capital build-up plans?

In a related article, SEC Chairperson Fe Barin was quoted as saying that planholders affected by the suspension of Prudentialife’s license to sell pre-need plans should go to the SEC for advice.

Source/Reference:  Hannah L. Torregoza, author
SEC revokes license to sell of Prudential Life Plans, firm airs side

Manila Bulletin     mb.com.ph

On the SEC website, there are instructions on how to file a complaint. There is also a complaint form which can be downloaded.
But you can use your own format as long as you include all the necessary details.

Here is a simplified version of the SEC procedures:

1. You can file your complaint against any  pre-need company in the Philippines at the SEC office along EDSA in the Greenhills area. Submit your complaint to the Central Receiving and Record Division (CRRD).

2. Who can file a complaint?
The planholder, or the legal representative, or the beneficiaries (if the planholder is deceased)

3. Where is the complaint filed?

Submit your complaint to the Central Receiving and Record Division (CRRD) of the SEC.

4. Contents of the complaint

The complaint should be written. You can use the SEC complaint format which can be downloaded from the SEC website.

• name, address and contact number of the complainant
• name of the pre-need company, main address of the company, name of the person contacted (example: name of the salesperson)
• brief statement of facts: type of plan, effectivity, number of installments paid, total payments paid, significant dates, and other facts that will support your complaint

5. Issues to be resolved

The examples of issues are:

• non-payment of claim
• non-registration of pre-need company
• non-registration of pre-need plan
• refusal to reinstate pre-need plan
• inaccurate termination value
• mismanagement of trust fund
• illegal closure
• any other fraudulent act or misrepresentation done by the pre-need company, its representatives or salespersons

6. Brief statement of relief or solution being claimed by the complainant

In short, what do you want the pre-need company to do for you?

7. What happens after submission to CRRD?

The CRRD is mandated to forward the complaint to the Non-Traditional Securities and Instruments Department (NTD) within 24 hours or not later than the same hour of submission on the next working day.

8. What Happens at the NTD?

The NTD is mandated to number and docket your complaint. This will add your complaint to a list or register of complaints with codes for easy reference.

9. Mandatory mediation hearings

The NTD orders you, the complainant, and a representative of the pre-need company to appear in a mediation hearing not later than 15 days from receipt of complaint. The NTD will send a notice of mediation at least 5 days before the hearing.

If you fail to appear at the hearing without prior notice and justifiable reason, your complaint will be dismissed. If you attend the hearing, but the pre-need company representative fails to appear, NTD will resolve the issue according to your documents.

10. What happens if the mediation fails?

Both you, the complainant, and the pre-need company file position papers within 10 days from date of failed mediation hearing.

The position paper includes:

• statement of facts
• statement of issues to be resolved
• presentation of arguments (refer to documents and affidavits you attached)
• claims or solutions

11. Decision

The NTD will issue a decision not later than 10 working days from the date following receipt of the filing of the position paper. The NTD must state the basis of the decision.

The NTD will also forward a copy of the decision to the Compliance and Enforcement Department (CED) of the SEC within five (5) days from date of decision.

12.  Appeal

The complainant or the pre-need company can file an appeal of the decision within 10 days from receipt of the decision.

Lastly, the downloadable SEC complaint form has a notary public portion.  So, if you use your own format, it is advisable that you have your complaint notarized.