CAN the Department of Justice (DOJ) pursue a similar line of complaint that the US DOJ advocated against a looming merger between AT&T and T-Mobile on issues of dominance that is now the subject of a controversy involving Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Digital Telecom, which owns Sun Cellular? This merger issue, we believe, is at the heart of an executive order that sought to make DOJ as a competition authority.
As of yesterday, the state attorneys general of New York, Washington, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania have joined the US Justice Department in its suit against the proposed acquisition by AT&T of T-Mobile.
One needs only to look at what is happening in the US to determine that the proposed acquisition by PLDT of Sun Cellular would mean a 70-percent control of the frequency, the digital roadway, which smacks of dominance and goes against the grain of letting competition dictate the tempo of the business game. This is why it is important to look at what’s happening in the US in the business of telcos to know that PLDT’s acquisition of Sun would have the same impact as that of AT&T’s on T-Mobile and should, therefore, be an occasion for the DOJ to pursue its mandate as the competition authority.
No less than President Aquino sounded the alarm on the return of the monopolies. Remember that it was during the dark days of the monopoly of PLDT when 98 percent of the population was waiting for a line and 2 percent was waiting for a dial tone. This quotable quote from Singapore’s Lee Kwan Yew was what possibly moved then-President Fidel V. Ramos to open the telco industry to other players.
That opening of the telecom industry to other players is what allowed the Philippines to become an investment destination and now we are reaping the benefits of that Ramos vision to rid the sector of the monopolistic situation. As a result, thousands of jobs were created, with the business-process outsourcing industry leading the way. It is thus unfortunate to know that the telco sector is again being threatened by the PLDT-Sun deal. Perhaps, the DOJ can look at the options open to prevent a repeat of the problem. For starters, it may want to google the AT&T-T-Mobile deal and discover how US state attorneys are doing it.
LRay has zero credibility
For Rep. Roilo Golez, Gov. LRay Villafuerte has almost zero credibility, having had the taste of the lies that the Camarines Sur governor spewed over the radio concerning an apology Golez supposedly gave the governor on the House approval of the creation of Nueva Camarines.
At the Tuesday Club yesterday, Golez, while sounding sad over the turn of events between the Villafuerte father and son, also believes the creation of a new province would mean new developments and the creation of new centers of power. He mentioned how his province Romblon developed when it ceased to be just a subprovince of Capiz. Another example was Biliran, which developed economically when it ceased to be a subprovince of Leyte.
Golez also provided inputs into how the creation of a province could mean the development of new urban centers as the delineation of a new provincial capitol would serve as a magnet for new businesses leading to higher economic development.
The continued refusal then of LRay to the creation of a Nueva Camarines, now awaiting Senate confirmation, is something that does not sit well with Golez. LRay, has in fact, gotten to filing suits against his perceived enemies, one of them House Deputy Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella. The young Villafuerte had filed a complaint for plunder against Fuentebella before the Ombudsman.
Fuentebella is one of those Camarines Sur solons who voted a mighty lopsided 229-1 vote for the creation of the new province. Aside from that, Fuentebella authored House Bill 4820 that was passed by the House. From the looks of it, the young Villafuerte seemed so heat up against his perceived enemies that he has somehow forgotten that he has pending graft charges before the Ombudsman to speak of.
Those graft charges against the young Villafuerte stemmed from findings of the Commission on Audit (COA). One of those, which we discussed before, involved the purchase of fuel to power generators in the province due to supposed power outages. Supposed, we say, since for that period of time that the fuel were purchased, there were no such power outages to speak of. In a way, when LRay haled Fuentebella to court, he has somehow forgotten that a charge sheet has come his way, courtesy of the COA findings. That has a better credibility, we hasten to add.
