Eased regulatory rules under ARISE bill won't clip PCC powers —Salceda

The P1.3 trillion Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy (ARISE) bill does not clip the mandate of the Philippine Competition Commission to prevent monopoly, a House leader said Friday.

“I believe the intention of  the language is to ensure that the regulatory agencies do not sit on the pending matters, and that the continuity of business at this crucial time is unimpeded, especially those that have to do with essential goods and services,” Albay Representative Joey Salceda, one of the authors of the measure, told GMA News Online.

“If one refers to the text of the bill, the provision is very clear that the PCC will continue to have the authority to prevent violations of Chapter 3 of the Philippine Competition Act, and that includes anti-competitive agreements. So, if there is something anti-competitive in the markets, the PCC will continue to have full power to act,” the chairperson of the House ways and means committee added.

The PCC published on Friday a position paper raising the red flag on a provision that it said limits its mandate by requiring it, among others, to desist from imposing fines and other monetary penalties;  from requiring any submission by parties to proceedings before it, including fact-finding or preliminary inquiries; and issuing any show cause order, cease and desist order, subpoena, statement of concern or similar statement and other similar issuances.

Chapter 3 of the Philippine Competition Act states the prohibited acts under the law which include: restricting competition as to price, or components thereof, or other terms of trade; fixing price at an auction or in any form of bidding including cover bidding, bid suppression, bid rotation and market allocation and other analogous practices of bid manipulation; setting, limiting, or controlling production, markets, technical development, or investment; dividing or sharing the market, whether by volume of sales or purchases, territory, type of goods or services, buyers or sellers or any other means and agreements which have the object or effect of substantially preventing, restricting or lessening competition.

The ARISE bill, however, also states that all mergers and acquisitions involving enterprises engaged in essential businesses entered into 30 days prior to or during the community quarantine and for a period  of one  year will be deemed as an action to promote continuity and capacity-building, and are hereby exempt from the compulsory notification and related requirements under the Philippine Competition law.

Salceda said such eased requirements is not tantamount to grounding PCC but a move to ensure that there will be no more job losses in the aftermath of the pandemic.

“My own sense of the situation is that, for the time being, while we are in a crisis, price is more relevant than firm structure. The concern with regulations on firm structure, at a time when almost any economic activity is valuable, is that they can altogether cause the operations of a firm to cease,” Salceda said.

“Price action is easier to correct, and it does not risk causing people to lose jobs or livelihoods. I'm all for protecting market competitiveness. [But] for now, almost any business, as long as it legally provides jobs and goods at fair prices, is good for the economy,” Salceda added.

Based on the records of state-run Philippine Statistics Authority, over seven million Filipinos lost jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The House has approved the ARISE bill on third and final reading last June 4 but the Senate has yet to act on it. —LDF, GMA News