Belmonte confident of anti-trust bill’s passage

MANILA, Philippines - Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. expressed confidence yesterday that Congress will eventually approve the proposed anti-trust bill.

He said the legislature “strongly supports initiatives enhancing national policies promoting fair and full competition in all commercial economic activities.”

 â€œMeaningful socio-economic development means, among others, promoting and enhancing economic efficiency and full competition in trade, industry and all related activities,” he said.

He added that the proposed Philippine Fair Competition Act aims to level the playing field among companies, reduce business cost and offer product quality and lower prices to consumers.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, one of the authors of the proposed law, said its passage would boost economic growth, since it would complement the reforms the Aquino administration has undertaken.

 â€œIt seeks to penalize anti-competitive agreements, arrangements, practices, and mergers for a healthier business environment. Definitely, such law will improve the business climate and encourage more foreign investors,” he said.

Rodriguez said said there is “no major issue” against the anti-trust bill.”

The proposed statute is patterned after similar legislation in the United States.      

Under the bill, a Philippine Fair Competition Commission would be established to ensure that businesses do not abuse their “dominant position” and do not resort to uncompetitive and unfair arrangements and practices.

The commission would have the power to investigate “on its own initiative or upon the complaint of any person, any and all violations of this act and other competition laws and cause the issuance of a cease and desist order prior to the commencement of a preliminary inquiry, and/or the institution of a civil or administrative action.”

The proposed law would prohibit cartels, which it defines as a “combination of firms, providing goods in relevant markets, acting or joined together to obtain a shared monopoly to control production, sale and price, or to obtain control in any particular industry or commodity, or a group of firms that agree to restrict trade.”

Anti-competitive agreements could be either “horizontal” or “vertical.” Horizontal agreements are those “entered into between two or more enterprises operating at the same level in the market.”

Vertical arrangements, on the other hand, are those made “at a different level of the production or distribution chain, and relating to the conditions under which the parties may purchase, sell or resell certain goods or services.”

The bill also prohibits “prize fixing,” which it defines as an “agreement among competitors to raise, suppress, fix or otherwise maintain the price at which their goods and services are sold.”