If there is something good that come out for me from the financial crisis is this: personal insurance is not insurance. Our family have so far received two letters from 2 big insurers that they can no longer comply with the obligations, that is, pay us the maturity value of our insurance. They will start collecting from the dividends we earned to pay up “additional contributions” when in fact we already paid up the 10-year pay requirements. Now I realize, we take risk when we insure ourselves. The insurance company does not. We are expose, they are not. The make bad investments, we pay up for their losses.

in re: 30ks ha. development along the laguna lake.

this is another brain dead idea of those trapos and oligarchcs for a quick rich scheme with complete disregard of ecological impact to the biggest source of fresh water so close to metro manila.

the lake could be the infinite source of drinking water for the whole metro manila and beyond if it is manage and protect properly.

case in point, the city of los angeles get some of its fresh water source from the colorado river that runs the desert mtns. ranges of state of colorado, nevada and arizona. the los angeles basin water authorities, the city of las vegas and metropolises of arizona in concert with the federal govt. had built dams and constructed thousands of miles of aqueducts on desert lands to irrigates san fernando valley, supplied water to lake havazu, and fills some of the cities population’s daily consumption .

in comparison, the laguna bay’s proximity to metro manila seems to be not a big engineering challenge or a marvel to built the water pipelines connecting to any fresh water treatment plant facility that is already on line.

and where all the untreated waste that the planned development produced will ends up?
the only lowest part of the area, into the lake of course.

at the present level of corruption and imcompetence among the national and local govt. personnel, it will takes only ten years to make laguna bay a dead zone.

are these people brainless or just plain greedy?

see what the next summer month will do to the metro manila’s water supply.

i hope there are still people in laguna who has some good common sense to raise the issue against this dammning proposition to reclaimed and dredge the lake for a commnunal development.

if not, it will be the beginning and the end of the lake.- i had fished, swam and recreate in this lake. fresh water gobbies (biya) and ayungin were abundant on those days - i hope not to witness it in my life time - the dying days of the lake.

i am a cabuyao institute alumni.
class of 68////

kayana2 sends////
lasvegasnv.

forget about laguna lake, laguna lake is a goner, but rather we should try to save wawaa dam and the river that feeds it, wawa dam alone can provide for the water needs of metro manilia, but people are ignoring this important resource, thanks to crooked politicians like that former president infidel ramos.

Regarding your news about Mitsumi Philippines, Inc… the report is inaccurate, currently the total manpower of the company (Mitsumi Bataan) is still more than 3000.

09feb2009
lasvegasnv
1945

i heard thru the grapevine that metro-manila will experience another water shortages again this summer. and to add salt to the open wound, the water district will raise the price for the users of this abundant commodities.

phil. geographical location and its almost unchanging climatic condition guarantees the rainy season every year, but the country still at the mercy of waterless summer, why is that?

every hydrologist engineers would agree that destroying the watersheds and polluting the rivers that supply the fresh water to all reservoirs is the most imposing dangers to water shortages in the country.

we can build new dams or retrofit the old one, but still we need clean water to flows into it.

kayana2 sends
lasvegasnv.

Now that the BSP rejected the 14billion loan requested by the dubious PDIC, i hope they will now start paying out the 100k and above deposits of the closed Rural Banks last December, to prove that they really are so liquid and that their claim of a large amount of DIF is truly stable to secure and insure all depositors of all types of banks which pay their high amount premiums without a halt. I described them dubious because if they really wanna show the integrity of the deposit insurance agency, then what is taking them so long to start and initialize the payout when these are only 14 rural banks, and not yet a bank that has more than 500 branches around the country? It is too alarming, but it really is their way of delaying tactics. If they really wanna appease the depositors, they should finally sense that prolonging the delay will even cost depositors lives thinking as to the turnout of their money. PDIC, better cudgel your brain coz people aren’t stupid anymore not to think that your agency is not far different from the problems faced among pre need companies with short funds to provide its clients!

Dito nanaman kami? Either today or tomorrow, PGMA will go “again” to Dubai to convince the Arabs there to invest in our country.

The problem here is that on the process of going to Dubai, Juan de la Cruz purse is in jeopardy. The problem with pgma is that we the people are the once subsidizing her trip. For what ever reason, she has no right to squander the “people,s money” for such endeavor.

Why of all people has our president got to be the one to initiate such promotion. Is our Commercial Attache in Dubai not qualified in representing our country on business matters. Does it needs the president to fly all the way to Dubai to promote our trade?

The problem with PGMA, is that she thinks she is indispensable. She concentrates and does all the walking instead of delegating the mission on those specific agencies.

Does she not believe in “Observation of the Holy Week?” After getting support from the Catholic priest, and after the tragic Bell Helicopter wherein 6 of her close associate died, she just could not wait going again on foreign trips.

She can always delegate her mission to Vice President Noli de Castro if she wants too. But perhaps, she just don’t trust Noli to speak well infront of other dignitaries. Anyway, Noli, really has communcation problem, next to the perception that he is ill at ease with other people higher than him.

I still believe that PGMA, just to show her deep respect to her RELIGION should stay at home, and also, commisserate with relatives of those who perish in the helicopter accident.

If ever she leaves, it only proves one thing. Madam president’s heart is nothing but made of stone. She does not care for those who perish in the helicopter accident, neither has she got any symphaty to those 1,000 victims of summary execution.

Now, we know what staff she is made of.

Response of Prudentialife Plans, Inc. to SEC

http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20090420-200371/SEC_revokes_pre-need_firm%92s_dealer%92s_license

The global economic crisis has affected a number of industries worldwide including the Philippine pre-need industry. The trust funds of the industry have not been earning their projected returns. The local stock market and fixed income investments have performed poorly last year causing trust fund deficits.

Compounding the problem of the industry is the ongoing investigation of the Legacy fraud case. This has dragged down the confidence in our industry whose image has already been tarnished when major preneed firms went down years ago.

To address the situation, the Philippine Federation of Pre-Need Plan Companies, Inc. (PFPPCI) was left with three options to consider for its members:

1. Option 1 – To raise new capital based on the Multi-Year Capital and Trust Fund Buildup Program approved by the SEC last December 22, 2008 and subsequently revised last February 25, 2009.

2. Option 2 – To “Orderly Exit” the industry and pay plan benefits as warranted.

3. Option 3 – To seek corporate rehabilitation that is actually a no-choice situation that could delay the procedure of refunding plan benefits.

We would like to inform you that we have submitted our proposed Multi Year Capital and Trust Fund Build-up Program last February 2, 2009. However, the SEC declined our proposed program because the assets we offered for contribution to the trust fund and capital does not qualify as acceptable assets under the SEC revised program.

Under the revised program, the acceptable assets that can be contributed to the trust fund and capital are income generating real estate and unlisted shares that are not in any way related to the Preneed company.

The assets we offered are real estate properties that have good values but are not yet income generating. Aside from this, we offered unlisted shares of profitable companies but are affiliates of our preneed company. The SEC did not accept these assets for contribution to our trust fund and capital.

In view of this, SEC has directed our company to refrain from selling new preneed plans effective April 16, 2009. Nevertheless, we will continue to operate as a servicing pre-need company and pay plan benefits of our planholders as warranted.

Prudentialife Market Resource Corporation (PMRC) will continue to operate and market our other services that include Health Plans, Mutual Funds, and Insurance products among others. Notably, our sales for these products have grown significantly last year.

We hope that these developments will be temporary owing to the prevailing economic environment and government efforts to institute much needed regulatory reforms. We are confident we could pursue new opportunities and build the business of Prudentialife beyond the pre-need industry.

We thank you for your trust and confidence for the past 31 years and hope for your continued understanding and support in these trying times.

Sincerely yours,

Jose Alberto T. Alba
President
Prudentialife Plans, Inc.

This is with regards to the column on Favor of the Month…

as expected, we all been waiting for comelec to screw things up, it was just a matter of time… well in this case, because of “concerned” individual’s pursuit of cleaning our election system, fortunately this came out before the election is over!

we should first ask who recommended and how did Atty. Rafanan got the job of the COMELEC”s Law Department head? well guess who called to Chairman Melo to support his bid? it was Chairman Abalos! his employer as sen lacson would call then. this was the talk of the town inside palacio de gobernandor when rafanan was appointed by the enbanc!

i hope that we can still correct this before the grand plan of the present administration succeeds! may god help us

In reaction to Banana vote by
By Conrado R. Banal III

Mr. Banal glosses over the fact that PDIC had the power to examine and investigate banks, reinstated in RA 9302 (2004 law amending the PDIC Charter). The PDIC Forum 2004 trumpeted that this law “enhances PDIC’s capability to minimize risks to the DIF by reinstating
its authority to examine banks subject to prior approval of the Monetary Board. This authority will fortify the financial system’s safety net through complementary surveillance
and examination by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and PDIC, allowing prompt remedial intervention. In fact, if we go by PDIC’s ex-President Ricardo Tan revelation, in 2005 PDIC “conducted a probe based on the complaints of depositors,” Tan said.“What we found were fictitious deposits, [rotating] collateral from one bank to the other, unsafe and unsound [banking practices] and improper documentation.” This was the same probe that according to Mr. Tan, Speaker Nograles asked him to “go easy on the legacy probe.”

Is Mr. Banal telling us now to go easy on PDIC, who did not exercise its power to fine and even imprison the bank officials, and instead blame the victims for putting their hard-earned money into these PDIC- insured banks? These banks were regulated by both the PDIC and BSP, agencies with legislated powers to punish bank officers and even close down banks.

Writers and schadenfreuders like Mr. Banal are the reason why legitimate depositors have organized themselves into a group called DEADBOL (Depositors Enabling All Depositors of Banks of Legacy) to counter the well-oiled propaganda machine of the PDIC that continue to churn out half-truths and whole lies, to cover up the fact that it is insolvent and illiquid. We therefore ask all legacy bank depositors to register for DEADBOL membership by visiting and registering at our site: http://www.deadbol.com.

FAO Mr Conrado R Banal 111

I am writting response to your article in todays issue of the Enquirer dated June 16.

I disagree with your statements, but I what believe is nearer the truth, is they do not have the funds to make the payments, who audits the PDIC accounts???

And it is worth noting that the noises from the Senators etc., when the banks collapsed about their lost monies, have been very silent of late, could it be they have been able to get early payments? well if they have, it is in keeping of the tradition of the Philippines, keeping it in the family, brother feeding brother.

But what is also not right, which I believe is true, was that the Senators losses in the Rural banks were probably all repaid in full, and not limited to the 250,000 pesos per account, their money invested in the Rurals by those elected few, were using the funds emanating from the people, siphoned from the the pork barrel etc, so once again it is the people who are paying for this, and as normal the “politicians win win” with the electors being the victims again, this would also cause the lack of funds within the PDIC, and you support that???????

I have not seen many newspaper articles in the Enquirer about this??? Yours is the exception but you are making excuses for the PDIC????

I have written previously to the Editor requesting a possible article on this subject. But my emails to the Enquirer are bounced by your servers, I have added the error messages to the end of this, if you could pass them onto your webmaster, or who ever has control over this part of your service, I would be grateful.

The latest from the Information desk at the PDIC, is that information letters or cheques maybe sent in June, but the PDIC help desk is not sure????? Well that what they said in April, May, the only thing they did not say is which year.

I hope this generates a reply and/or article?

Yours sincerely
John

I am writing in response to your article in todays issue of the Inquirer dated June 16.

I disagree with your statements, but I what believe is nearer the truth, is they do not have the funds to make the payments, who audits the PDIC accounts???

And it is worth noting that the noises from the senators etc., when the banks collapsed about their lost monies, have been very silent of late, could it be they have been able to get early payments? well if they have, it is in keeping of the tradition of the Philippines, keeping it in the family, brother feeding brother.

But what is also not right, which I believe is true, was that the senators’ losses in the rural banks were probably all repaid in full, and not limited to the 250,000 pesos per account, their money invested in the rurals by those elected few, were using the funds emanating from the people, siphoned from the the pork barrel etc, so once again it is the people who are paying for this, and as normal the “politicians win win” with the electors being the victims again, this would also cause the lack of funds within the PDIC, and you support that???????

I have not seen many newspaper articles in the Inquirer about this??? Yours is the exception but you are making excuses for the PDIC????

I have written previously to the Editor requesting a possible article on this subject. But my emails to the Enquirer are bounced by your servers, I have added the error messages to the end of this, if you could pass them onto your webmaster, or who ever has control over this part of your service, I would be grateful.

The latest from the Information desk at the PDIC, is that information letters or cheques maybe sent in June, but the PDIC help desk is not sure????? Well that what they said in April, May, the only thing they did not say is which year.

I hope this generates a reply and/or article?

It’s about time somebody address the mystery of the vanishing prepaid loads. I’m pretty sure I’m one of the millions of prepaid cell phone users who never complain about the vanishing load. I have given up on loading more than 10 pesos worth of load because every time I buy loads of 30 pesos and above, it vanishes into thin air. I hope the senate inquiry on this matter will not go for naught. Please create laws that will protect consumers against this kind of racketeering.

I have a COMMENT against the following that you wrote:-

“Let me rattle off some figures to prove my point. First, the estimated amount of “deposits”—or claimed deposits—in the Legacy fiasco is close to P14 billion.

Legacy happens to have only 12 rural banks. So far this year, 14 other rural banks also closed down. Guess how much was their total insured deposit. Only P2.6 billion!Legacy happens to have only 12 rural banks. So far this year, 14 other rural banks also closed down. Guess how much was their total insured deposit. Only P2.6 billion!

And then you have the humongous number of accounts in the so-called Legacy “banks,” which is more than 135,000 as of the last count.

Those 14 other closed rural banks, in comparison, had only 90,000 accounts”.

Let me show an alternative viewpoint to these same figures.

If 12 x Closed Legacy Group Banks with just 135,000 Accounts is considered ‘ humongous’ then why is 14 Banks with 90,000 Accounts compared with so much ‘bias’?

That is 66.67% the total of the Legacy Group Banks Accounts, but only an increase of 16.67% the number of Banks. Readjusted, this represents 55.6% of that ‘humungous’ number of accounts!

The Insurance Premium that all Banks pay, is currently a ‘Flat Rate of 1/5 of 1% of the Deposits.

So these 14 x closed Banks with Php2.6B worth of insured deposits, raised Php5.2M in Insurance Premiums for the ‘DIF’, whereas these 12 x closed Banks of the Legacy Group, raised Php28M!

So for an adjusted 55.6% of the number of Legacy Group Banks, they only paid 18.57% of Insurance Premium compared to that collected from the Legacy Group Banks.

The PDIC have been saying they won’t be paying out Php14B to the Legacy Bank claimants anyhow, since so many are considered dubious or fictitious?

There is a simple answer here for the PDIC:-

Move away from a ‘Flat Rate’ insurance premium. Nearly every ‘commercial’ insurance company charge an insurance premium commensurate with risk, and claims record.

If the PDIC, simply went for an Insurance Premium comprised of 2 parts - the 1st part being a fixed fee, to cover the administration costs (say 0.1% which is half the current Flat Rate). The 2nd part being based on the Interest Rate being offered on the Deposit. So if the Bank was offering 2%pa, the premium element related to that could be say 1/20 ie also 0.1%, giving Total equal the same 0.2% (or 1/5 of 1%).

The difference comes with these Legacy Group Banks offering 20%pa. Such ‘alternative Premium’, as suggested, would give 1.1% compared to the current 0.2% (a 5.5 x increase).

This coupled with proper checking of a Bank conforming to good banking practice by the BSP and PDIC should lead to a better Bank Deposit Insurance, but needs to also have a payout efficiency in line with Commercial Insurance also?

Johny

posted In reaction to Banana vote by
By Conrado R. Banal III

Sir if you really feel the need to draw public attention to the efforts of the PDIC. please try to keep fiction away from facts, I can understand that fiction may draw more readers, but facts will earn you an honorable reputation and followers who share the need for truth and not sensationalism, by siding with the PDIC, it appears that you have shown where your integrity lies.
Sir, if you want a story of fact try investigating how the SEC Sanctioned the opening and running of the legacy group of products, try asking how the BSP and PDIC who’s job it is to monitor such bank products sanctioned the workings of the Legacy group and subsequently provided insurance via the PDIC, but now that all is collapsed the depositors of the rural banks are somehow being blamed and having the fingers pointed at them… let me tell you of some roles, the role of the govt bodies who’s job it was to investigate unsafe banking practices and the role of the PDIC to insure banking products. they were the only bodies who had the power to investigate and identify these now termed “bad banking practices” but they didn’t, they took there premiums each moth and were very happy with the take.
depositors saw a bank product passed by the SEC, overseen by the BSP and insured by the PDIC…..surely this is a valid product!, well we all now know, that this was not the case, Please don’t point any fingers at the depositors, point them at the alphabet agencies BSP,SEC, PDIC who are tasked to protect the public and not rob to them,

I’m sure you can find a factual story in there.

Johny

Hi Mr Conrado Banal;

Thanks for sharing your views regarding the Legacy/PDIC fiasco.

Although I share your view in a way that what happened in Legacy rural banks were unprecedented as what PDIC would want to picture it out, it also pose a bigger question of how secure my money is in the bank?

My view on this situation is that PDIC is NOT capable of doing efficient verification and prompt payouts on close banks depositors.

If this trend continues, what if big banks or even say medium banks close out? Will means that we have to wait 10 months to be paid? And all of what PDIC is giving in the press like this and that which give more anxiety to depositors? The moving deadline that they are giving, the requirements that they need to see in order for to be paid?

Legacy situation is unprecendented BUT for me is just small and isolated case like rural bankers association and BSP said and STILL PDIC cannot handle efficiently?

So if you have money in banks, will yo not think twice if it is really safe then?

What about the loan of PDIC from BSP which was turned down? Does this suggests they are not LIQUID?

Banal, don’t you know what you are writing about?

Dont you know that PDIC hasn’t paid the other 14 Rural Banks with 2.8Billion Peso deposit worth either?

Dont you know that mass media means? This means voice for all people, not for the government!

Have you done your research about the Legacy banks already? Do NOT talk or write about what you do not know!

You can not compare the 14 Rural Banks to the 12 Legacy owned Rural Banks because Legacy Rural Banks were mostly based in Metro Areas where liquidity is! Legacy owned banks also have more branches like a commercial bank! Some of these banks were even older than MBT, BDO, and BPI!

What gives you the rights to question that small banks have no right to solicit people who can deposit their money in these banks? Why? Do you believe that only the BIG people deserve to live and get all the depositors money? Does this mean small people must not have money and that they must not deposit their savings in small banks?

Don’t you even realize that Commercial bank holds around 300 Billion peso of deposit? If PDIC can not handle 14Billion of deposit, how can they pay up if a commercial bank closes down? This is a blessing in disguise for PDIC, because with this situation, they can make new system that can face bigger challenges in the future specially interms of sorting big volume of accounts.

You should think twice before speaking for PDIC, what you need is to understand that we are victims of PDIC here, because all people paid insurance premiums to be insured. We are not talking about the banks because PDIC mean, Philippine Depositors Insurance Corporation, and it is just like all INSURANCE corporation you know, but they have the benefit of receiving premiums from banks that will never close, and all other bank deposits! They also receives the assets in all forms from banks that has closed down. So who is the winner here? PDIC gets everything yet they can not pay small banks that have closed down?

If you have insurance, and you do not get what you paid for, will you also say that your insurance company is just doing their job?

PDIC can not also say that the insurance premium they are receiving is just a small amount. All insurance premium is just a fraction of the amount of what is insured for! Do you expect to pay 500,000 peso insurance premium for your car that is worth 800,000 peso? If your car gets wreck, will your insurance corporation tell you that they will not pay you because your car is wreck and the permium you paid for is only a fraction of the amount you are claiming? Or they will not pay you because your driver mismanage your car? The banks we deposited our hard earned money are all audited and licensed bank! They are all authorized to operate as banks, and therefore, insurance coverage upto the amount prescribed by the law is out of the question!

The depositors of Rural Banks should even be credited for helping our countryside developments! Without their money, how can liquidity reach the mass? How can poor people be given the chance to borrow money to grow?

Instead of thanking the depositors of rural banks, what are they getting?

You can not also expect people to place money in smaller banks unless they can offer better interest rates! This is their rights! We have the rights to negotiate interest rates that is both favorable to the depositors, and the lender of the small banks! Do you expect all people will place their money in commercial banks with interest rates lower than the inflation? If you will tolerate people from placing their money in instruments and products that is below the inflation, then you do not think for the people, because we are losing the value of our hard money everyday! Somehow their rights are also being taken away from them!

If you can speak favoring the PDIC, can’t you also speak to favor the Rural Bank depositors who have claims in some of the closed banks? Do you not think that they (depositors) have the right to complain, because they are only fighting for is for their money to be returned, not more, not less, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, because to some, their savings in these closed banks are matters of life and death!

In reaction to Conrad Banal’s article on PDIC claimants. I think Banal’s comments springs from his total ignorance of the facts on hand. His shallow opinion obviously ignores the valid and legal position of Legacy banks depositors who got duped by Delos Angeles and who are not being duped by the PDIC thru Nograles. Shut up Banal. Check your facts first. Your words seem to come out from a beauty parlor.

The DBS forecast of a P50 to US$1 exchange rate by the end of September 2009 is highly unlikely. Note that that would be a two-peso slide which is very significant. Given how tightly the Bangko Sentral is managing interest rates and inflation, such a scenario has very little chance of happening. That much of a decline would mean the local forex market would be so awash with dollars that the peso would depreciate much.

Crude oil prices are rising while importers and exporters will be getting ready for Christmastime consumer spending in the country and overseas. These factors will drain off some of the supply of dollars.

Short-term forex rates are signifcantly influenced not by total debt stock nor interest rates of government securities, but by forex payments and dollar inflows.

Any dollar-denominated loans that would be coming in between now and December will be quickly spent for the pump-priming activities. The effect would be on local money supply not the peso-dollar rate.

The last time the peso was at 50 to US$1 was in October 2006 and ever since the BSP has been tightly managing monetary policy, the peso has not fallen by two pesos in two months.

Maybe P49 to US$ by September 30, but not P50 to US$ as DBS estimates.

Mr. Banal,

Since you have made your position obviously crystal clear with regards to the banana aerial pest spraying issue….let me ask you this: How would you like to live in the middle of the banana plantation—and please bring your family with you. Put your money where your mouth is.

Does that mean you stay in your house when you have it fumigated…