By Charmaine A. Tadalan
A SUBCOMMITTEE of the Consultative Committee (ConCom) on Charter Change proposed creating a national competition authority to “strongly” regulate a liberalized economy under a federal republic.
Subcommittee on Economic Reforms chair Arthur N. Aguilar said the provision gives the federal competition body “exclusive powers to formulate and execute policies and laws and regulations on fair competition that will cut across all federated regions.”
“This means that the federated regions cannot formulate their own competition policy or create their own competition authority,” Mr. Aguilar added.
He added that the Subcommittee on Constitutional Bodies will determine whether the structure of the national competition authority will be a “full constitutional body or a constitutional agency,” clarifying too that “what we have envisioned is (to) definitely have elements of ensured independence and security of tenure within a fixed term.”
The same Subcommittee will also be tasked to determine the institutional design, and define the powers and functions, membership, and extent of authority of the proposed competition body.
At present, there is only one provision in the 1987 Constitution against anti-competitive behavior. As stated in Article 12, Section 19, “The State shall regulate or prohibit monopolies when the public interest so requires. No combinations in restraint of trade or unfair competition shall be allowed.”
Mr. Aguilar said his subcommittee opted to retain the provision as it serves as “a general preamble (which) we will craft to (give) more specific powers for the national competition authority.
The sub-panel further proposed to prohibit anti-competition agreements, including anti-competitive mergers and acquisitions, rent-seeking behavior, and abuse of dominant position.
“If we are to liberalize the economy, we have to make sure that there will be fair and healthy competition and no players will be allowed to dominate any industry or market,” Mr. Aguilar said.
Sustaining a competitive market was included in the standpoints of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), which according to them, benefits both businesses and consumers in the long run. “While greater competitive pressure may reduce revenues in the short run, the same pressure can lead inefficient firms to shape up and improve their processes or technology,” the PCC said in a study submitted to the Subcommittee as part of the commission’s position paper.
The ConCom Technical Working Group will formulate the exact wording of these provisions for submission to the en banc next week.

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