Instead of giving slimming tea, chocolates, and other wellness products, troubled pre-need firm Permanent Plans is giving memorial lots to partially settle their obligations to plan holders.

"Some plan holders are asking for alternative payments other than wellness products. But it is not forced," Permanent Plans president Juan Miguel Vazquez told ABS-CBN News.

Vazquez also said the plan holders who already availed of the wellness products can opt to return these in exchange for memorial lots. 

The company, which had about 10,800 plan holders as of end-December 2008, said they will infuse more assets in the next four to five months in order to meet its obligations.

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission revoked the license of Permanent Plans after the pre-need company did not submit a proposal to plug the gap between how much it has and should have set aside to meet obligations to clients.

The SEC had said it had not permitted Permanent Plans to offer products instead of paying their clients with cash, and that it was considering sanctioning the pre-need firm.

Vazquez was the president of the pre-need industry association that had lobbied for softer regulation and accounting standards. In a statement Tuesday, Vazquez said, "Permanent Plans no longer believes in the viability of the pre-need pension industry as currently set up and given the adverse operating environment it finds itself in."

In February, another cash-strapped pre-need firm Pryce Plans Inc settled its obligations to clients with medicines, cooking gas, and memorial lots. -- with reports from Zen Hernandez, ABS-CBN News