Aquino urged to certify antitrust bill as urgent

President Benigno Aquino III. AP

President Aquino was asked over the weekend to certify the antitrust bill, which seeks to penalize “anti-competitive agreements and mergers” as urgent, for a healthier business environment.

Cagayan Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said there was still time to pass  the antitrust measure or the proposed Philippine Fair Competition Act into law despite the tight legislative calendar ahead of the election campaign period.

“I don’t see a major issue against the bill so there is no reason not to pass it into law,” he told the Inquirer in a phone interview. “I hope the President would certify  it as urgent.”

A certification would allow both chambers of Congress to pass the bill on second and third readings on the same day. Sessions will resume on Jan. 21 but will adjourn on Feb. 8 to give way to the poll campaign period.

Although backed by at least 75 congressmen, including Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the antitrust bill has remained stuck in the period of debates.

But Rodriguez said this was only because it “took a back seat” when the House of Representatives concentrated on the reproductive health bill late last year.

“There is still time. We still have nine session days left,” said Rodriguez, whose centrist Democratic Party has been pushing for an antitrust law to go with efforts to lift the constitutional limit on foreign ownership of local businesses.

The bill will establish the Philippine Fair Competition Commission to help ensure that businesses would not enter into “anti-competitive agreements and anti-competitive mergers” and the “abuse of dominant position.”

“This would hit big businesses definitely, but this would also help improve the business climate and encourage more foreign investors,” said Rodriguez.

The bill will cover “cartels,” which are defined 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.”

The proposed commission will 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.”

Under the bill, anti-competitive agreements could be either “horizontal” or “vertical.” The former refers to agreements “entered into between two or more enterprises operating at the same level in the market.” Vertical agreements cover those “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.”

Another provision penalizes “prize fixing” or the “agreement among competitors to raise, suppress, fix or otherwise maintain the price at which their goods and services are sold.”