THE country’s two telco giants dared the antitrust body to be “transparent to the public” by stating that its transitory rules were in effect when they coacquired their supposedly budding rival in May, something that is crucial in the ongoing probe on the controversial transaction.
Yolanda C. Crisanto, spokesman of Globe Telecom Inc., said her group is puzzled by the Philippine Competition Commission’s (PCC) continuous denial that its coacquisition with PLDT Inc. of San Miguel Corp.’s telco assets falls only under the transitory rules and not on the actual implementing rules and re-gulations (IRR) of the competition law.
“It is quite surprising that the PCC has consistently evaded the issue that this transaction falls under Section 4 of PCC Memorandum Circular 16-02; that a mere filing of the notice to the PCC will render the transaction as ‘deemed approved,’” she said on late Thursday.
She was referring to the transitory rules that were in effect on May 30, when the two companies bought out several telecom holding companies of San Miguel to gain access to frequencies. The IRR of the competition law took effect a day after the transaction.
This was supported by Ray C. Espinosa, who heads the regulatory affairs department at PLDT.
“The notices were filed on time and contained the essential terms of the transaction. The transaction has been deemed approved by operation of the provisions of the commission’s transitory circulars,” he said.
Espinosa added: “The commission has no power or authority to interpret its rules as it deems fit. The terms of the commission’s transitory circulars were clear and left no room for interpretation. It behooves the commission to follow its own rules.”
The antitrust body has sought for the review of the transaction, noting that it is not the only deal that is under review. There were 61 transactions closed before the law took effect, and a quarter of this is under review.
What irks the competition council is this: only the duopoly refused the review and the 15 others were fine with it.
But to the commission’s request for more information and documents, the telco players obliged.
“Globe graciously gave these additional documents for their reference and information, though no longer required by their own rules. Globe even sought a dialogue with the PCC to answer and clear any issue the PCC may have,” Crisanto said.
She added: “Globe is puzzled until now why PCC claims the notice and filing are insufficient. Globe has bent backward more than it can to accommodate PCC and comply its requests for more information. The PCC, perhaps, might be looking for a nonexistent document.”
Crisanto also urged the competition council to coordinate with the National Telecommunications Commission to learn how the transaction was treated historically and how spectrum was assigned and allocated.
“Globe is disappointed that PCC is not considering this transaction in accordance with its own rules. This is whimsical and we cannot be subjected to some processes the PCC just conjured for this transaction, and not properly disclosed beforehand. This is in violation of the equal protection and due process clause of the Constitution. This is bad for business,” she said.
Worse, Crisanto added, the anti-trust body is employing mob rule when it calls for a public forum on a purely adjudicatory matter involving the private rights of the parties to the transaction.
“This is against the law and repugnant to procedural and substantive due process,” she said.
To recall, the two telcos acquired San Miguel’s telco business for P69.1 billion. This transaction freed up the coveted 700-megahertz (MHz) frequency band, which, according to the players, is the key to improve the current state of the Internet in the Philippines.
It, likewise, gave the two players additional frequencies across all bands.
Before the acquisition of the telco business of San Miguel, which used to hold 345 MHz across different bands, PLDT Inc. held 290 MHz and Globe, 210 MHz.