PCC, PPP Center ink partnership to streamline process in public-private partnership projects

The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) and the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center on Friday signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on streamlining the process of facilitating public-private partnership projects.

Under the MOA, the PCC and PPP Center will cooperate on creating guidelines to streamline the process of reviewing competition concerns on PPP-related projects.

The signing held in Quezon City was led by PCC chairman Arsenio Balisaca, PPP Center executive director Ferdinand Pecsion.

"The first step in our partnership will be the formulation of the guidelines for our partnership, we have a MOA but we need to operationalize it," Balisacan said.

"We would have to find out how we can share information, especially if they know a potential competition issue in a PPP project, we work together to ensure that is not going to be a problem," the antitrust watchdog chief said.

Balisacan said the partnership with the PPP Center is also aimed to prevent any delay in the process of facilitating public-private partnership projects.

"What happens is, if at the end of the day a project is approved by a government agency and then we came in and say, 'that's not allowed because it is anti-competitive and we have to do something about it.' That will delay the project, we don't want that to happen," the PCC chairman said.

For his part, Pecson said that the PPP Center's partnership with the antitrust watchdog will ensure that projects approved are done in a level playing field.

"I see this as a very important step in achieving value for money public-private partnership projects," the PPP Center chief said.

Pecson said that the guidelines to be formulated with the PCC will serve as a "framework for competition" for both solicited and unsolicited projects in national and local levels.

"We have to make sure that the framework is promoting competition as opposed to being anti-competition," he said. — RSJ, GMA News