Fair competition bill passes on 2nd reading after death of main sponsor

IT took the death of its sponsor for the House of Representatives to pass a bill which languished in Congress for almost three decades.

The House of Representatives passed on second reading a bill demolishing monopolies in the country following the death of one of the sponsors, Tarlac Representative Enrique Cojuangco.

House Bill 5286 or the proposed “Fair Competition law” or “Anti-Trust law” hurdled second reading after the plenary ended the period of amendments Tuesday.

In a press conference, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the chamber would push for the passage of the bill, which he said, has been languishing in the House since the 8th Congress. The said Congress spanned 1987 to 1992.

He said the House would ensure its passage in the memory of the sponsor the late Rep. Cojuangco, who was more known as “Henry.”

“Remember that is one of the longest bills pending in Congress. I think it was first filed in the 8th Congress and has remained unpassed up to this time although in this current Congress, it has been passed in the Senate. Kaya kami dito we will do our best,” Belmonte said.

“In memory of Henry who stuck with it, we resolve to push that bill until it is passed… It can be called the Cojuangco bill because siya rin naman ang principal author nun,” Belmonte said.

The Speaker of the House said Cojuangco thought of his sponsored bill hours before his death due to aneurysm early Tuesday.

“Up to last night we were here until about 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. and we were discussing matters with a group of the leaders of the House including Henry. Henry talked to the Majority Floor Leader and asked about the scheduling of the Fair Competition Act. Kaya talagang that was one of his last concerns in the House,” Belmonte said.

“So we want to make a real effort to pass it. Something that he has worked for so hard,” he added.

The bill, main author of which is Belmonte himself, seeks to encourage fair and free economic competition by prohibiting the abuse of market position as well as the concentration of economic power on select businesses.

The consolidated bill with amendments seeks to demolish monopolies by prohibiting restriction on price competition; market sharing whether by volume of sales or purchases, territory, among others; price fixing at an auction or any form of bidding; as well as mergers where the effect of acquisition of stocks, share capital or assets may limit competition in the relevant market.

Other prohibited unfair business practices are misrepresentation of company information, distribution of false and misleading information that would harm business interests, making false claims about the price of a product, among others.

The bill also seeks to create a Philippine Competition Commission under the Office of the President which would investigate violations of the bill.

Belmonte said the chamber sorely misses one of the lawmakers who has supported the priority legislation.

“So we are very sorry about this… This was his second term and we all miss him because without any exemption here he was very friendly to every member of Congress of whatever political affiliation they may be,” Belmonte said.

Cojuangco is a main sponsor of the bill as chairman of the House economic affairs committee, one of the panels which approved the bill in the committee level.

According to the bill, business entities violating the prohibitions may be penalized criminally with five to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to 10 percent of annual turnover; and administratively with a fine of five to 10 percent of annual turnover.

Failure to comply with the competition commission’s order would also result in an administrative fine of P50,000 up to P2 million per violation. Intentionally supplying misleading information to the commission meanwhile may be penalized with a P1 million fine. AC