MANILA - Demand for pre-need plans remain on the decline as the public continues to shy away from such products.

Based on the monthly sales report submitted by pre-need corporations to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the number of plans sold from January to August was down by more than a quarter.

This means that only a total of 123,229 plans worth P6.25 billion were sold during the period as opposed to the 166,949 plans valued at P10.6 billion that were sold in the same period last year.

Pension funds posted the biggest decline at 59%, followed by education and life plans.

For August alone, the number of plans sold fell by 62.26% to 7,967 plans compared with the same month last year. This was also lower than the 11,000 plans that were sold in the previous month.

In an earlier interview, Caesar T. Michelena, president of the Philippine Federation of Pre-need Companies, explained that customers nowadays prefer to buy cheaper plans.

Mr. Michelena, who also heads Cocoplans, Inc., said life plans continue to register growth because of extensive efforts of companies to market these products and customers’ negative perception of education and pension plans.

As of June, there are only 22 pre-need companies, down from 24, after the regulator revoked the license of one firm to sell plans and suspended another due to financial difficulties.

Pre-need companies had sought the help of the Securities and Exchange Commission to relax industry rules to cut losses from old plans sold at high interest rates and avert what they claim would be their impending demise. Pre-need sales have been falling since January 2008.