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SEN.
Juan Ponce Enrile elicited the support of several
government agencies and private-sector representatives
behind an antitrust bill prohibiting monopolies and
price manipulations.
Enrile
earlier filed Senate Bill No. 123, seeking to “prohibit
monopolies or attempts to monopolize an industry or line
of commerce, manipulation of prices of prime
commodities, asset acquisition and price discrimination
among customers and providing penalties for violations
thereof.”
After
eliciting endorsements for the bill in a public hearing,
Enrile enlisted the expertise of Justice department
officials to head a technical working group that would
help refine the provisions of his bill, taking into
consideration the suggestions and recommendations of the
different stakeholders.
“The
enactment of the bill would prevent abuses, such as
those perpetrated by Meralco, including overcharging of
customers, price manipulations, ghost deliveries, book
manipulations and charging of system losses to
customers, amounting to billons of pesos, and others,”
Enrile said. He reported that the Department of Energy
(DOE) had endorsed a move increasing the penalties
proposed in his bill for violations of its provisions
once it is enacted into law.
Enrile
explained that, under the bill, any illegal acts
committed by monopolies or cartels, for instance, in the
electricity sector, will be divided into two parts,
namely, power generation which will be governed by the
provisions of his bill, and power distribution which
would be regulated by the Energy Regulatory Commission
as is now being done.
According to Enrile, among the government agencies that
expressed support for the bill are the DOE, the Energy
Regulatory Commission, Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI), the Philippine Trade Commission (PTC), the
National Economic and Development Authority, the Tariff
Commission and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
He added
the bill also gained support from the private sector,
including lawyer Anthony Abad of the Trade Advisory
Services and Dr. Erlinda Medalla of the Philippine
Institute of Development Studies. Both also proposed
the creation of a fair-trade commission.
Enrile
indicated he is also considering the DTI’s suggestion
for the creation of an antitrust commission similar to
the Federal Trade Commission of the United States.
As
proposed, the PTC shall serve as a central agency that
will enforce the implementation of antitrust laws.
At
present there is no single agency that will enforce
antitrust laws, and the power is distributed to various
agencies.
The
senator added the PRC, for its part, suggested that a
provision be included covering licensed professionals,
while provisions for administrative, criminal and civil
liabilities should also be included.
It was
also suggested that the lines of supervision in the
implementation of the bill should be made clear to
ensure proper and effective implementation of the bill
once enacted into law, Enrile said. |
