Securing our Children's Future: A Primer on the Pre-Need Code of 2008

Here's an e-mail sent to me by Senator Mar Roxas just this afternoon about his bill, the Pre-need Code of 2008:

Dear Kevin,

Thousands of Filipino families have suffered in the hands of irresponsible pre-need companies. Hard-earned money, shelled out by hardworking parents month after month, to secure the dream of quality education for their children, has gone down the drain.

We are on the way to fix this bane. Last June 11, the Senate passed the Pre-need Code of 2008. We are now waiting for a counterpart measure to be passed by the Lower House. I have attached a summary of the bill's important features.

Once enacted, the code will hold pre-need companies to stricter standards to safeguard the rights of Filipino families, such as concrete measures to protect plan holders; detailed provisions on the securities a pre-need company can invest in; and the percentage of the premiums that should go into the trust fund.

It also prescribes qualifications for those who manage the trust fund; and establishes an agency to regulate pre-need companies based on prudential principles based on soundness, stability, and sustainable growth.

I wrote this Pre-Need Code for all the parents out there who work long and hard to provide their children a life much better than what they had. Help me get this passed by Congress. Speak out in the media about it. Ask your friends and relatives to join us.

Thank you and God bless.

Sincerely,

Mar