What are our government regulatory bodies doing? They are supposed to protect the public, the taxpayers who are paying their salaries and allowances, from abuses by private companies, but from the numerous complaints about abuses, it is obvious they are sleeping on the job, waking up only on the 15th and 30th of the month to collect their pay. I will single out the National Telecommunications Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Energy Regulatory Board and the Department of Energy and the Department of Trade and Industry, but I am sure there are many others that are as yet not in the limelight.

The disappearance of prepaid loads from cellphones has been going on a long time and many have complained to the NTC, but until Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile himself complained in a privilege speech in the Senate, the NTC would not wake up.

Pyramid scams have been going on and off for years, many have lost their life?s savings to them, but the SEC has not, until now, done anything to prevent repetitions of the same. Now we have the problem of pre-need firms; they cannot pay the claims of their planholders when they become due. Planholders have bought and paid for these plans, expecting that they would be able to claim them when they need them. But what happened? The pre-need firms gave them excuses instead of funds when they tried to claim what are due them. Until now, the SEC doesn?t know what to do.

The oil cartel is obviously stealing from the public and running circles around the DOE and ERC. As soon as crude oil prices rise in the international market, the local oil companies lose no time in raising their retail prices even though it would still take months for this higher-priced oil to reach Philippine refineries. But when prices of crude oil fall, it takes the local oil firms a long time to correspondingly lower their prices, saying they first have to exhaust their inventory.

The DOE and ERC are supposed to protect the public from such opportunism, but what do they do? They quickly make excuses for the oil firms, even before the firms themselves do, as if they are the lawyers and spokesmen of the oil cartel. Every time the DOE opens its mouth, it is to protect the cartel, even disputing the computations of the National Economic and Development Authority. When NEDA said the local fuel prices are overpriced by P8 a liter, the DOE lost no time in disputing that. It seems the DOE has got its duty wrong. It is protecting the oil companies, not the public.

The DTI is supposed to prevent profiteering and to prevent cartels. But we have had for years the oil cartel, the cement cartel, the pharmaceutical cartel, the rice cartel, etc. that have been fleecing the public. But when prices jump, the DTI merely issues press releases suggesting prices for prime commodities and photo releases showing their officials inspecting market stalls. When the cement cartel raises its price, the DTI imposes tariff on imported cement to protect the cartel instead of the consuming public.

The pharmaceutical cartel composed of foreign drug companies and a drugstore chain has long been making life hard for sick Filipinos, but the DTI did nothing. Congress had to pass the Cheaper Medicines Act to provide relief to the public. Still, the cartel has its way. One common ploy was to entice the small-time generics ?boticas? (drugstores) to carry its brands and limit its inventory of lower-priced generic medicines manufactured by Filipino pharmaceutical companies. Go to any Generics Pharmacy branch and you will see that on top of its list of anti-hypertensive drugs is Norvasc, an expensive foreign brand. Nowhere is Amvasc listed, which is much cheaper and manufactured locally by Unilab.

Let us go back to the pre-need firms. Planholders are still holding the proverbial empty bag and the SEC seems not to know what to do.

* * *

In the face of mounting financial losses and the growing public distrust of pre-need plans, at least one company was bold enough and honest enough to admit it is on the brink and that it is ready to settle its obligations early.

And because this firm is unable to build up its trust fund that is supposed to cover planholder claims when they fall due, it invited its clients to accept a payment formula different from the traditional manner of settling payment claims. It is 40 percent cash and 60 percent dacion en pago.

Since it had wanted an orderly early settlement of planholder claims, it advised the SEC of the proposed payment options. The SEC replied with a letter that said:

?Please be reminded that any settlement changing the terms and conditions of the original plan cannot be implemented unless it is with the knowledge and consent of the planholder.?

Of those who trooped to the office of the pre-need company to demand early settlement, 96 percent (according to the company) agreed to the payment formula, thus giving it elbow room to meet the demands, given the available funds in trust. The settlement plan, therefore, had the knowledge and consent of planholders.

Suddenly, last April 20, the SEC announced it had suspended the firm?s license although it had voluntarily ceased selling plans along with its decision to fold up operations and settle obligations instead.

The hasty SEC decision did not help the ailing company any. It merely drove planholders into a panic and made the situation more complicated.

As if that were not enough, the SEC directed trustee banks of the ailing company not to release funds unless cleared by it. This had the effect of a freeze order, thereby putting on hold all claims.

The company went to court. The planholders now have no choice but to await the judgment of the court on the manner by which the company would pay them.