By Ferdinand F. Fabella

THE new management of Pacific Plans Inc. yesterday offered to buyback educational plans from thousands of disgruntled customers?some of whom have sued the company and its previous owners?and pay them 15-percent interest a year.

?Our dialog with the plan holders made us realize that there are those who have an urgent need for their hard-earned money in these difficult times,? said the new owner, Noel O?ate, after a closed-door meeting with the company?s customers.

?In response, we shall offer to plan holders to buy back their plans and return what they have paid to PPI plus interest. In that way, no plan holder will lose a dime of their investment paid to PPI.?

O?ate did not specify what interest rate would apply, but a company official who asked not to be named told Standard Today it would be 15 percent.

The dialog at the Manila Polo Club in Makati was the first time O?ate, former owner of the Asian Spirit airline, met with plan holders after he bought the Yuchengco-owned company last December.

O?ate was joined in the meeting by Abundance Providers Investments Corp. directors Rita Linda Jimeno, Ronaldo Geron, and Rodolfo Serrano. Liwayway Gener, a financial consultant in the ongoing management transition, was also present.

As part of the transition to the new management, Pacific Plans would be renamed Abundance Providers Entrepreneurs Inc.

?We want a break from the past and a new beginning for the company and our plan holders,? Geron said.

By 5:30 p.m. yesterday, there were about 40 plan holders at the meeting, with only five belonging to the Parents Enabling Parents Coalition that sued the Yuchengco Group for syndicated estafa over Pacific Plans? inability to meet its obligation to plan holders.

O?ate, in a statement delivered to open the dialog, called on all parties ?to move away from a confrontational and adversarial engagement and move into a more constructive and collaborative partnership.

?We are committed to having an open mind not only in this dialog but in the way we manage the corporation,? O?ate said.

?As we take a first step away from acrimony and hate, let us always remember that innovative solutions can only be developed when everyone has an open mind and an attentive ear.?

During the dialog, O?ate discussed what he called the Pacific Plans? ?core business principles? that would guide the rehabilitation of the company.

He also outlined his ?10-point action plan? to turn the company around.

?Our plan to turn around PPI is a work in progress. This is only the first in a series of dialogs we are having with our plan holders. We want them to be our partner in finding ways to turn around this company,? Jimeno said.

Geron said that since acquiring Pacific Plans, O?ate?s group had been conducting a series of meetings to complete the management transition.

?Last week we met with our employees and agents. We are encouraged by their enthusiastic response to the change in management,? he said.

O?ate also met with Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Fe Barin after the acquisition.

In his speech, O?ate promised to abide by the court-approved rehabilitation plan for Pacific Plans. Upon the maturity of P2.3 billion in trust assets next year, the company would pay off traditional plan holders their share of the assets in US dollars.

He also said the trust assets for the company?s fixed-value educational plans, pension plans and memorial plans were enough to cover those plans.