Pre-need companies increased sales of plans by 31 percent in the first quarter of 2025 as demand for memorial plans strengthened, the Insurance Commission (IC) said.

IC reported pre-need firms sold 218,218 plans, rising from the 166,286 plans recorded in the first quarter of 2024. From the total sales, 99.78 percent consisted of memorial plans.

Philippine First Insurance Group Chairman of the Board Atty. Monico Jacob said he is optimistic more Filipinos will explore options for memorial plans to ease various stresses caused by deaths of loved ones.

"People are beginning to realize that when somebody dies they are often not prepared. When death comes, there are a lot of problems that arise," he said.

"When you have a memorial plan, all you need to do is call your family and they will immediately go to the hospital and work on getting the death certificate for the funeral parlor," he added.

Despite the stronger demand for pre-need plans, IC said the industry's total net income declined to P1.17 billion from P3.23 billion last year.

The insurers said this was slashed by a higher allocation to pre-need reserves at 14.35 percent hike and by slower growth in income from trust fund investments.

Jacob said businesses have been more cautious in investing as economists project global economic slowdown caused by Trump's tariffs.

"It is something we don't have control over," he said.  "IC has a model of what we can invest in and we try to allocate investments to earn enough. If the markets are good, we will turn around," Jacob continued.

Nevertheless, IC said companies' trust funds continued to cover their requirements for pre-need reserves used for delivery of services and benefits to clients.

Trust funds surpassed pre-need reserves by P12.51 billion as invested funds increased by 7.6 percent.

"This shows that pre-need companies do not only meet their reserve requirements but are likewise able to grow their investments, further reflecting a well-managed and financially robust industry capable of timely fulfilling their obligations to plan holders," IC said.The industry's total assets grew by 6.55 percent, mostly backed by trust funds which had an 85.9 percent share.

Total premium income increased by 4.41 percent to P5.82 billion from P5.57 billion year-on-year.

Given those data, the industry's total net worth grew by 9.11 percent to P28.84 billion from P26.43 billion.

IC said the figures reflected data from unaudited interim financial statements submitted by 13 pre-need firms.