House panel endorses anti-trust bill

MANILA, Philippines - The House appropriations committee has endorsed the country’s version of the anti-trust law, titled Philippine Competition Act.

The measure approved by the committee chaired by Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab is a consolidation of 11 bills, one of which was authored by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

The consolidated bill proposes a national competition policy, which would prohibit anti-competitive agreements or conduct, abuse of dominant position, anti-competitive mergers and acquisitions, and other unfair trade or business practices.

Belmonte said having such a policy would encourage fair and free economic competition by prohibiting the abuse of market dominant positions and the concentration of economic power, thereby stimulating creative business activities, protecting consumers and promoting the balanced development of the national economy.

He said under the planned integration of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in 2015, each member-state is obliged to adopt a fair competition

He recalled that in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July 2010, President Aquino called for the enactment of an anti-trust law to promote fair competition and provide opportunities for small and medium scale enterprises to participate and contribute to economic growth.

“A level playing field is essential for inclusive growth and development. A national competition policy will unify, codify, update, and streamline all legislation and regulations affecting competition in the country,” he said.

Ungab said the enactment of the proposed Philippine Competition Act “is pursuant to the constitutional mandate that the State shall regulate or prohibit monopolies when the public interest so requires and that no combinations in restraint of trade or unfair competition shall be allowed.”

He said the approval of the measure should encourage more investments in the country.

The bill provides for the creation of a Philippine Competition Commission under the Office of the President to implement the proposed national competition policy. The commission would be composed of a chairperson and four associate commissioners.

Among the prohibited activities are restricting competition as to price or other terms of trade; setting, limiting, or controlling production, markets, technical development, or investment; dividing or sharing the market, whether by volume of sales or purchases, territory, type of goods or services, buyers or sellers or any other means; fixing price at an auction, bid suppression, bid rotation, market allocation, and other similar forms of bid manipulation; and applying dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions with other parties, thereby placing them at a competitive disadvantage.

The measure also prohibits one or more entities to abuse their dominant position by engaging in conduct that would unreasonably prevent or restrict competition.

All unfair methods of competition as well as unfair or deceptive trade or business practice which have the object or effect of unreasonably and substantially preventing, restricting or lessening competition would likewise be banned.