PEX (build 133) with EssentialCmds 1.8.9-8.1.12

I am trying to make a Pixelmon server with Sponge Forge.
My current setup is: forge-1.8.9-11.15.1.1890-1.8.9-universal
Pixelmon-1.8.9-4.2.7-universal
IronBackpacks-1.8.9-2.0.2
spongeforge-1.8.9-1890-4.2.0-BETA-1526
EssentialCmds-1.8.9-8.1.12-universal

However, when editing the permissions with PEX commands, the permissions file is nonexistent. The file should have been in the config folder or ninja.leaping.permissionsex folder but I can not find it. Is this a bug? In addition, while I did give myself permissions to set/use/delete/list homes, I cannot seem to make list homes work as it would not list any homes that I have already set.

133 is for SpongeAPI 5, ie 1.9.X/1.10.X

Derped there, thanks for catching that. I switched the plugin version back to build 131, the permission file still does not show up in folder ninja.leaping.permissionsex: only files are ninja.leaping.permissionsex and permissions.mv.

Yes that is expected the default backend is now sql, using h2. You use the ingame commands to edit permissions.