By Ferdinand Fabella

THE buyer of Pacific Plans Inc. yesterday told the company?s rehabilitation receiver that it is taking over the management of the troubled pre-need firm.

In a letter to Mamerto Marcelo, the court-appointed receiver, Pacific Plans executive vice president Liwayway Gener said the acquisition by Abundance Providers Investments Corp. would have no effect on the rehabilitation plan, which was approved in December 2005.

Gener said Abundance Providers would inform plan holders, agents and employees of the change soon.

The legal counsel for Abundance Providers, Rita Linda Jimeno, yesterday appealed to plan holders to give the new owners a chance to run the financially troubled pre-need company formerly owned by the Yuchengco Group.

Jimeno said Abundance Providers was willing to talk with the plan holders, who have threatened to go to court to stop the sale.

?I hope that they will give us a chance first before they react negatively about the deal,? she said, adding that plan holders should be ?happy? because there was an investor willing to take ?a very risky venture? like buying out ailing Pacific Plans.

?All we?re asking is their cooperation, because when the company becomes successful, they will the ones who will benefit most,? Jimeno told Standard Today.

On Wednesday, the Parents Enabling Parents Coalition, an organization of educational plan holders fighting a legal battle with Pacific Plans, said they would oppose the sale, describing it as a ?mockery of the rehabilitation process.?

The group asked why Abundance Providers? owner, Noel O?ate, had not consulted with the court-appointed receiver.

Reacting to the group?s statement, Jimeno said no one could stop the sale since it had already been completed. Abundance Providers was not required to consult with the court-appointed rehabilitation receiver over the acquisition, she said.

Old policies still stood and the company would continue to sell and service its education, pension and memorial plans, she said.

In a separate statement, O?ate pledged to abide by the company?s rehabilitation plan, adding it was business as usual for Pacific Plans. Plan holders would be served by existing branches nationwide.

?With our fresh perspective and focus, we will work with our plan holders initially to ride out the present economic challenges and then further gain strength and momentum moving forward,? O?ate said.

Also yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission played down the financial problems of the pre-need industry, saying it had already been putting reforms in place to help its members.

Commission secretary Gerard Lukban said the difficulties that the pre-need is experiencing as a result of the global financial crisis was also being felt by other industries.

The closure of three pre-need companies?Legacy Consolidated Plans, Scholarship Plans Inc. and All Asia Plans Corp.?were isolated cases, he said.

To help the industry, the commission had alerady eased the guidelines on the investment areas where the pre-need companies? trust funds may be invested, Lukban said.

But that would not be done at the expense of plan holders, he said. With Jenniffer B. Austria