ERC readies participation in Competition Commission

MANILA, Philippines - The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is forming a technical working group (TWG) to help in forming the Competition Commission created under the recently signed fair trade law.

“We will issue in the next few days a TWG to participate in the formulation of implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the Competition Commission,” newly-appointed ERC chairman Jose Vicente Salazar said.

On July 21, the President signed the landmark Fair Competition Act or Republic Act 10667, which promotes free and fair competition in trade, industry and all commercial economic activities.

Under the law, a five-man Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) will be established, with the President appointing a chairman, four commissioners and an executive director.

Among the powers given to the PCC include imposition administrative fines of P100 million for the first offense and P250 million for the second offense for abuse of dominant position and prohibited merger.

“The President has signed it over a month ago, there has not been an initiative to form the TWG to handle the IRR. But in ERC, we are already forming a TWG so that when they form it, we are ready to provide them with inputs,” Salazar noted.

The ERC chair noted that he had a small role in drafting the law when he was still in the Department of Justice (DOJ), under the office for competition and he can share his knowledge to the power regulator.

“We know some parts of the history of the law, like why certain provisions were included and the debates on the final provision,” he said.

“We can deal and attend to this matters in the IRR. I can provide with this TWG, which we will form in our office, with some guidance on how they could provide means to reach the objectives of the law,” Salazar noted.

The Competition Act seeks to prevent economic concentration, which will control the production, distribution, trade or industry that will unduly stifle competition, distort, manipulate or constrict the discipline of free markets, and penalize all forms of anti-competitive agreements, with the objective of protecting consumer welfare and advancing domestic and international trade and economic development.

In its own turf, The ERC is currently working on resolving the case of the 12 power players found to have withheld power supply in December 2013, considered an anti-competitive behavior, that resulted in record high electricity rates.

A pre-hearing conference is targeted by end-August to finally start the much-delayed probe on the case.