PEP Plans

Over two years ago, Pacific Education Plans suddenly announced it was going to renege on its obligations to assume the tuitions of its planholders contracted on an open basis. Those plan holders had paid a fixed amount on the promise of PEP that it would assume the education of the beneficiaries regardless of amount at a designated future period based on the plan bought. PEP justified this move to renege saying it was insolvent, had miscalculated, and was sorry. The planholders were angry. A number of beneficiaries supposedly stopped schooling or transferred to a lower-tuition schools.

Now, one might commiserate with PEP if it were truly insolvent except that in the first place, it had made a promise, hundreds of thousands of promises, in fact. And it just chose to break these promises. Second, a plan holder argued, in cases where a plan holder was unable to pay premiums, was he able to get away with them? No, the plan was immediately voided after a certain period. So why should PEP get away with this move? Besides, PEP's major owners had other holdings: banks, real estate development properties, insurance, etc. Couldn't it borrow from these institutions so it could meet its obligations? No way it would, it seemed. Months later, the news had it that the owners of PEP had bought Mapua. Now where did that money come from? And children of plan holders could enroll there for free, I think? But pray tell, how many of them were inclined to do so? Silly offer.

A few weeks back, several obituaries in the papers showed that one of the daughters of the taipan who owned PEP had passed away. (Think of how much huge obituaries running in several pages, in several newspapers cost and how many students could have studied using the money dedicated to those obituaries.)

Last night, the news was that the staunchest lawyer for PEP was found dead in a hotel room.

Divine justice? Karma? How un-Christian to think so and maybe these were but pure coincidences. But PEP's reneging on its promise snuffed out the dreams of a good education of so many parents for their children. Parents who work overseas so they can buy educational plans...

I rest my case.