As competition watchdog, DoJ means business—De Lima

The Department of Justice, the government’s designated Competition Authority, is actively pushing for the passage of a law that will prevent companies from taking undue advantage of size and market position to generate windfalls while placing consumers at a disadvantage.

In a speech at the Philippine Business Conference on Thursday, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the DoJ would actively “craft a comprehensive competition law.”

According to De Lima, the House of Representatives’ version of the bill has already hurdled committee-level hearings, while the Senate version is now on the technical working group phase.

“Since the founding of the republic, we never had a dedicated agency, unit, or office to address your competition concerns. Not surprising given that, up to today, we have yet to come up with a national competition framework and policy, to define and implement a plan of action to push … our national economic interest. Perhaps this is one project we can jumpstart,” she said before members of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In an earlier interview, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said the two chambers of Congress had different versions of the competition bill: the House version followed the Federal Trade Commission structure, while the Senate version was patterned after the Sherman Antitrust Act.

These should be consolidated in a way that would be acceptable to the business sector, Domingo said.

While waiting for the competition law to be passed, De Lima said the DoJ would be actively performing its duties as Competition Authority under the Office of Competition.

Less than five months since its creation, the OFC now has five cases in its docket, including complaints on bid-rigging, combinations in restraint of trade, and abuse of dominance, she said. The first complaint was filed just three days after Executive Order 45, which designated the DoJ as the Competition Authority, took effect.

De Lima noted that the DoJ faced a number of challenges in performing its mandate: Lack of capacity in terms of the absence of in-depth industry studies mapping out the state of competition and the extent of regulatory capture in the country, entrenched systems and vested interests, and the absence of strong consumer lobby groups.

As the country’s Competition Authority, she explained that the DoJ was mandated to investigate all cases involving possible violations of competition laws, enforce competition policies and consumer protection laws, and supervise market competition.

“The mandate is broad and is not limited to the criminal prosecution of offenders. It includes ways and means to solve constraints. But if there are bad eggs … we will not hesitate to use our … prosecutorial powers,” De Lima said.