To paraphrase Yogi Berra, the current controversy about the pre-need industry looks like deja vu all over again. And if nothing comes out of today?s headlines, either, well, that?s achingly familiar, as well.

The Senate has started hearings on the pre-need industry, which, depending on who you listen to, is either about to collapse unless the government bails it out or is more than able to make good on its promises to provide for the educational, retirement and other benefits of its hundreds of thousands of planholders, thank you very much. At the same time, the controversy has once again focused attention on an industry that seems not to have outlived its reputation as the happy hunting ground of financial scoundrels and government?s failure to effectively prevent the wholesale defrauding of people who have invested their savings on some pre-need company that could be here today and gone tomorrow.

Against this backdrop is the recent bankruptcy of three pre-need companies owned by an Albay politician-businessman. The Legacy collapse took place after the Bangko Sentral closed down a string of rural banks owned by Cesar delos Angeles, who apparently used his pre-need firms to offer scam-like ?double-your-money? offers, among other such schemes, in violation of BSP rules.

Meanwhile, just to complete the flashback, former policyholders of Pacific Plans, the Yuchengco family pre-need that spectacularly imploded some years back, have gone to court to question the sale of the company to the founder of a small airline. The ex-Pacific planholders are accusing the Yuchengcos of syndicated estafa, saying the family merely sold their ailing pre-need to shirk the responsibility of paying the people they left holding an empty bag when their pre-need went under.

Then there?s the resurrected debate about who should oversee the industry ?the Securities and Exchange Commission that does so right now, or the Insurance Commission, which many believe is much more stringent in policing companies that are very similar to the pre-needs and better-equipped to regulate them. That discussion has been around since pre-need industry leader College Assurance Plans suddenly went kaput, as well.

What?s apparent, as some senators themselves acknowledged during their hearing yesterday, is Congress? failure to act decisively on the pre-need industry by passing the proposed Pre-Need Code. Or, to be more precise, the failure of the House of Representatives to pass its own version of the Senate?s proposed regulatory law that the upper chamber already approved on third reading in the previous Congress.

House Speaker Prospero Nograles, according to Delos Angeles himself, lost millions when Legacy went belly up. But even that isn?t any guarantee that Congress will finally pass its own version of the Senate?s proposed pre-need act, especially since the pre-needs themselves seem to want the status quo?and its occasional flashes of deja vu ? to remain.

As for all the talk of a planned bailout of some ailing pre-needs, that?s a new one. But no matter how much the pre-need companies want the government? meaning the taxpayer?to rescue them, that proposal seems about as certain as an open-ended, any-school-at-any-cost educational plan.

There just isn?t any money to spare from the measly economic stimulus program that Malaca?ang is pushing, after the make-work infrastructure projects and all the other pump-priming stuff are given money. Besides, where?s the accountability for the pre-needs that failed because of mismanagement or, worse, plain old looting of the hard-earned money entrusted by so many people who drank the pre-need Kool-Aid?

Will those who stole the people?s money get off scot-free? We shall see in the days to come.

And if that happens, well, we?ve seen that, too.

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We missed the launching last week of Senator Loren Legarda?s coffee-table book, Loren: A Celebration of Life and Nature, at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati, during her birthday. But we caught the buzz that while Loren was pushing her glossy picture book at P3,000 a pop, she was also dropping broad hints about running for president next year.

Legarda?s birthday at Red restaurant was the political event of the week, we were told, attracting practically everyone from nearly every sector, party and special-interest group, as well as a smattering of representatives from business and entertainment. Many wondered if Loren?s book launch would be the venue for her announcement that she was gunning for the big prize, the whole enchilada, after losing a bitterly-contested battle for the vice presidency to her old Channel 2 co-worker Noli de Castro in 2004.

Loren discussed the economy and predictions of a prolonged crisis that will hurt the Philippines, as well her longtime crusade to save the environment. ?Economic analysts across the globe warn that we are about to enter a period of prolonged crisis. At the same time, global warming wreaks havoc on our natural resources. It has weakened our economic foundations, unsettled production and trade and slowed down global food production through droughts and floods,? she said. Loren?s prescription: Tough people outlast tough times, and we Filipinos have already proven ourselves tough in emerging triumphant from trials, tribulations and adversity, if we work really hard.

When asked The Question, finally, Loren replied: ?While our readiness to lead cannot be contested, while the call of higher office is without question an alluring quest, the current context dictates that we should look beyond ourselves and our narrow ambitions so we can truly dedicate our energies into building from what we have?and from other resources and tools that we can muster?to stave off this looming crisis.?

As for the others also considering plans to run for the highest office in the land, Loren offered this advice: ?I call on our public leaders to set aside their narrow ambitions, the disease of ?presidentialitis,? the quest for self-glory and self-gratification so that, with God?s help, we can work to overcome the current crisis. There is a time to be ambitious. This is the time to truly serve the people.?

So, Loren isn?t saying that she?s running, definitely, and can?t really be bothered about it because she?s too busy trying to help the economy and the environment. But, at the same time, she can?t help but snipe at those who have decided to do so and who have announced their plans this early.

Sounds like Loren?s going for it, to me.