PCC pushes competition perspective in legislation

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) is pushing to mainstream competition in Congress through a training program for legislative staff.

In a statement yesterday, PCC said it launched the Capacity Improvement on Competition Advocacy for Legislative Staff project which involves conduct of capacity building and advocacy seminars for the legislative staff of the Senate.

Through the project, the aim is to provide a competition perspective in proposed economic legislation.

“Legislative staff are tasked to draft and study bills, serving as the technical backbone of Congress. Impressing on them the importance of competition, particularly in crafting bills regulating trade, industry and commerce, will ensure these are imbued with pro-competitive safeguards when passed into law,” PCC chairperson Arsenio Balisacan said.

Topics covered in the training of legislative staff of the Senate are competition issues in government interventions, the competition landscape in key markets, and competition impact assessment on proposed legislation.

Efforts to capacitate legislative staff to pinpoint and discern competition concerns is in line with the PCC’s aim to promote a culture of competition in government.

Apart from training legislative staff, the project will serve as a platform for PCC to push for priority bills.

Among the focus areas identified by the PCC for priority bills are telecommunications, energy, retail, construction, transportation, food, and health and pharmaceuticals.

After the training of legislative staff of the Senate, PCC is set to conduct a similar session with the House of Representatives in the next quarter.

Another session, meanwhile, would be undertaken with local government units in the second half of next year.

PCC is mandated to promote and protect a competitive market where businesses compete based on the quality of their work and consumers have options.