‘House won’t allow big business to water down anti-trust bill’

MANILA, Philippines - Certain big business interests will not be allowed to pressure the House of Representatives into passing a watered-down Anti-Trust Bill.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and House ways and means committee chairman Romero Quimbo made the statement yesterday.

“In the past, the bill has never left the committee level but now it is in the plenary, so it has a very good chance of being approved,” Belmonte said in telephone interview.

Last week, House committee on economic affairs chairman Enrique Cojuangco sponsored the proposed Philippine Fair Competition Act on the floor.

The bill seeks to curb monopolies and protect consumers and the economy from unfair competition.

It is a consolidation of 11 bills earlier approved by the House committees on economic affairs, trade and industry, and appropriations.

The bills’ authors are Belmonte, and Representatives Salvacion Ponce-Enrile, Rufus Rodriguez, Marcelino Teodoro, Reynaldo Umali, Diosdado Macapagal Arroyo, Teodorico Haresco Jr., Niel Tupas Jr., Sergio Apostol, Anthony del Rosario and Giorgidi Aggabao.

The consolidated bill seeks to prohibit anti-competitive agreements or conduct, abuse of  dominant position, anti-competitive mergers and acquisitions, and other unfair trade or business practices.

Belmonte said the bill will encourage fair and free economic competition by prohibiting the abuse of market-dominant positions and the excessive concentration of economic power by regulating improper concerted acts and unfair business practices, thereby stimulating creative business activities, protecting consumers and promoting the balanced development of the national economy.

Quimbo said the bill is a priority of both the House and the Senate, which recently passed its own version.

The concerned panels that deliberated on the bill felt pressure from various business groups that believed they would be adversely affected if it is signed into law, he added. However, Quimbo did not name the business sectors that, he said, “for whatever reasons, and are making lots of money, want a status quo.”

Quimbo said a provision sought to be watered down is on predatory pricing, or lowering prices below cost to wipe out competition.

“The Speaker was adamant that we have to come out with the best version that will protect our households and the economy,” he said.          

Other lawmakers spoke of a squabble among the various House committees where some apparently sat on the landmark bill, threatening its passage.

A House member privy to the deliberations said the bill was taken from the trade and industry committee to Cojuangco’s panel after the House leadership thought it was sitting too long in that committee.

Quimbo and trade committee chairman Mark Villar declined to comment on the matter.

“We’re all working to come up for the best version for our economy,” Villar told The STAR.