SEC TO CONTINUE ACCEPTING LEGACY CLAIMS BEYOND APRIL 15

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has agreed to extend to April 30 the filing of claims for reimbursement from the collapsed pre-need companies of the Legacy Group owned by controversial businessman Cerlso de los Angeles, Liberal President Mar Roxas announced today.

Roxas, chairman of the Senate trade and commerce committee, said the SEC agreed to his request to give Legacy pre-need plan holders more time to comply with documentary requirements so they could claim from the trust fund now being managed by the SEC.

"Mahalagang mabigyan ng karagdagang pagkakataon ang mga biktima ng Legacy na makapa-file ng kanilang aplikasyon ng sa gayon ay mabawi naman nila ang kanilang mga pinaghirapang pera (It is important that these planholders are given the extra time to file their claims to be able to get back their hard-earned monies)," he also said.

Barin had announced the SEC's Mandaluyong office and extension offices in the provinces would continue to accept applications for Legacy claims even beyond the April 15 deadline.

The move was in response to Roxas' request to extend the deadline to allow as many Legacy plan holders as possible to file their claims because of delays caused by the long Lenten holidays.

But Barin clarified the SEC was not setting a new deadline for the filing of reimbursement claims to discourage policy-owners from waiting up to the last minute to submit their applications.

"We opted to adopt this arrangement - instead of setting a new deadline - because, based on our experience, the plan holders may wait for the last minute before filing their claims and, in the process, create long queues in the designated filing centers," she explained in her letter to the Visayan senator.

"Acting on your request, we issued (on April 15) a notice (with corresponding advice to the media) informing the planholders that the Commission's offices in Mandaluyong City and extension offices in the provinces shall continue to accept their claims even beyond the April 15 deadline earlier set," she also said.

Barin said the Commission has started to process claims earlier filed by policy holders. "Their claims shall be given priority in processing and will be paid from the trust fund as soon as they are validated," she added.

The Senate trade and commerce and banks committees will resume its joint investigation into the Legacy fiasco and the status of the pre-need industry on Monday.

Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Commissioner Alejandrino Barin, husband of the SEC chairperson, has told the Senate panel he could not attend the Monday hearing because of conflicts with the regular meeting of the ERC.

He furnished the committee a copy of the ERC Notice of Meeting and assured Roxas "that given the proper notice, the undersigned shall attend subsequent meetings."

The lawyer was dragged into the Legacy fund mess after news reports came out indicating he had sold one of his cars to a lawyer of the beleaguered Legacy group.

The revelation had raised questions over SEC Barin's credibility as head of the government's regulatory body on investments, including pre-need firms.