Anti-trust body gains support of key agencies

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has gained the support of key government agencies and Philippine development partners in ensuring the success of its efforts in curbing cartels and uncompetitive market practices in the country.

The PCC signed yesterday pledges of commitment and declarations of support for competition with sector regulators, key departments of the government and the country’s development partners.

“The intention is for all of us to be on the same plane with respect to the importance of competition in this country, particularly on the development of competition culture in our country, ensuring goods and services will be affordable and better quality, as well as more variety of these goods and services,” PCC chairman Arsenio Balisacan said in an interview following the signing  of the agreements.

Among those which signed pledges of commitment with the PCC are development partners from Australia and the UK, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the United States Agency for International Development.

Sector regulators which signed the declaration of support, meanwhile, include the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Energy Regulatory Commission, National Telecommunications Commission and the Insurance Commission.

Partner government agencies which also pledged their support to the PCC’s agenda are the National Economic and Development Authority, Departments of Finance, Trade and Industry, Justice and the Office of the Solicitor General.  

“We need them for coordination but also for support because there is a lot of assistance the competition authority would need from our sector regulators like the SEC in terms of sharing of information and technical assistance. We also need a lot of support from our development partners because of their expertise in many areas. We want them to extend assistance to us so that we can go as quickly as possible and become an efficient and effective competition authority in our country,” Balisacan said.

“We need them to be working hand in hand with us so together we can achieve the objective the soonest,” the PCC chief added.

Officially organized in February 2016, PCC is mandated to implement the national competition policy and prohibit anti-competitive agreements, abuses of dominant market position, and anti-competitive business mergers and acquisitions.