Competition body to involve other government agencies

With the latest incarnation of the anti-trust bill still languishing in Congress, the government’s newly designated Competition Authority—the Department of Justice (DoJ)—will involve all relevant government agencies in ensuring a level playing field in the market.

Justice Assistant Secretary Geronimo Sy said the performance of the functions under the Office for Competition would be a concerted effort among all departments, especially those that are directly involved in consumer welfare.

Examples of such agencies, he said, were the Department of Trade and Industry and the National Telecommunications Commission.

“This is long overdue. Other countries have had such (offices) for years. We’ll just set up the office and work from there. We’ll work with other sectoral representatives. This will be a collaborative effort within the government,” he told reporters.

President Aquino on June 9 signed Executive Order No. 45, which directed the establishment of the Office for Competition under the DoJ.

Sy said the office would be composed of people from the DoJ, with representatives from different government agencies to be asked to help when the need arises.

The Office for Competition would not be merely reactive, as it could also file cases against entities that might be in violation of competition policies in certain industries.

Asked if Malacañang felt an urgent need to put up an Office for Competition due to the impending merger of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Digitel Telecommunications Philippines Inc., he said this was not the case.

Questioned about the timing of the issuance of the EO, while the PLDT-Digitel merger was still being reviewed by the NTC, he also declined to elaborate, saying only that the objective of the new office was to make competition work for the consumers.

He said he expected this office to still be in place even when the pending anti-trust bills in Congress become law.

“I don’t think this is just for the interim. In the end, prosecution will still be with the DoJ,” he said.