Press Release
March 2, 2009

Press statement of Senator Loren Legarda

ON PRE-NEED 'BAILOUT' PLAN

The Securities and Exchange Commissions reportedly considering a bail-out plan for pre-need companies that are encountering difficulties in discharging their obligations to their subscribers. However, before it does so, it should review and revise the regulations governing these pre-need companies in order to ensure full compliance with their commitments when the pre-need plans mature. The SEC should also tighten up in its enforcement of such regulations. Failure to do so verges on criminal neglect.

So many families that have invested their hard-earned money in pre-need plans to ensure the education, health and other future requirements of their family members have been left holding an empty bag after the maturity of their plans and when the need arises. An example of this is the three pre-need companies of the Legacy Group whose officers are now charged with syndicated estafa for allegedly defrauding their plan holders. It is heart-rending that parents who have invested their money for the college education of their children should find their investments disappear in thin air when the time comes for their children to go to college.

Pre-need companies should be held strictly and even criminally liable for failure to meet their contract with their plan holders.

ON BUY FILIPINO

The government and the private sector should as much as possible use local materials and products in their projects in the light of the current financial crisis affecting the international community. "Buy Filipino" should also be propagated among our consumers in order to encourage local production of goods and services.

Even the United States, which is the strongest economy in the world, has now included in its stimulus package "Buy American" proviso covering its various projects. Congress should therefore consider seriously the proposal of the Federation of Philippine Industries to include a "Buy Filipino" provision in the stimulus appropriations proposed by the administration.

As a developing country, the Philippines must be allowed to develop its local industries to provide more employment and income for our people. We have the manufacturing capacity, including that of small and medium enterprises, to produce many of what we need for our development projects. We must use this capacity to improve our economy.

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