Republic of the Philippines
Philippine Competition Commission
6/F DAP Building, San Miguel Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City 1600
Tel./Fax: (632) 6312129 • Email: • Website: http://www.phcc.gov.ph/
Welcome Speech
By Chairman Arsenio M. Balisacan
PCC First Anniversary
1 February 2017, 5:00 PM
Chardonnay by Astoria, Pasig City
Good evening!
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to the celebration of the first anniversary of the Philippine Competition Commission.
How time flies! For many of us at the Commission, it’s quite hard to imagine that a year had already passed since the official formation of the PCC in February 2016. But in that short span of time, I am happy to say that the Commission has already accomplished a great many things which indeed merit tonight’s celebrations.
First of all, despite the Commission’s relative infancy, we are proud to say that the Commission has gained much ground in carrying out its mandate under the Philippine Competition Act or PCA, which has truly been a game-changer in the country’s business environment.
As of 30 January 2017, the Commission has already received 80 notifications for mergers and acquisitions and 8 referrals for possible anticompetitive behavior in different sectors of the economy. The Commission has also issued a total of 4 procedural guidelines as of today. We are proud to report zero backlog on all of our merger reviews, in keeping with the PCA’s mandate of completing reviews within 90 days from notification of parties.
We are also near completion of our National Competition Policy Review, which will help us identify anti-competitive practices across major sectors of the economy, including those rooted in various government rules, policies, and measures. Once finished, the Review will also serve as the Commission’s compass in our priority-setting and advocacy in line with other government agencies and sector regulators. The preliminary report of this Review has also served as the basis for the inaugural competition chapter in the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 that will be launched within the first quarter of 2017. The addition of this new chapter signals not only the administration’s commitment to mainstreaming competition issues in the development discourse, but also its intention to be gauged partially in terms of how much competition it can foster in the next few years.
In light of the increasing number of tasks coming our way, I am proud to say that the Commission has successfully expanded its human resources and hired very competent and diligent staff. From a core group occupying the upper floors of the Development Academy of the Philippines—comprising the Commissioners and a handful of seconded staff from NEDA and the DOJ—the Commission has grown into a 111-strong agency as of 31 January 2017, comprising high-caliber lawyers, economists, accountants, and other analysts and specialists. It is no overstatement to say that the strength of the Commission lies in its pool of brilliant, hard-working, and energetic staff. Hence, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of them for their hard work this past year. Moving forward, we are expanding our human resources to around 200 by the end of the year. This rapid growth of the Commission may necessitate a move to a more permanent home in the near future.
We are proud of these and other early achievements. But we recognize that we continue to face a number of challenges that need to be addressed moving forward.
First, the Commission recognizes the need to fine-tune and nuance international best practices to suit the context of developing countries like the Philippines. Today, a vast majority of competition agencies worldwide are located in developed or advanced economies. But we at the PCC realize the vastly different economic environments and political landscapes found in developing countries. For instance, these economies are characterized by a large share of the informal sector in the economy, the predominance of micro/small/medium enterprises, poorly developed transport or connectivity infrastructure, and high levels of geographic, ethno-linguistic, and cultural disparities—all of which, to our mind, are salient considerations when crafting and implementing competition policy.
Second, the Commission recognizes the need to intensify our outreach, education, and advocacy campaigns to introduce the Commission and our work better to the general public. For instance, whenever we mention that we work at the Philippine Competition Commission, a great many people would still ask us which particular sports we are promoting at the moment. Aside from this, the Commission also seeks to deepen its relations and working agreements with key sector regulators in government through memoranda of agreement by which we can intensify our collaboration, coordination, and sharing of information while ensuring policy-coherence.
The Commission would not have sailed smoothly last year had it not been for the solid support of our many stakeholders, including those from the private sector, national government agencies, sector regulators, academe, media, and the public at large. Promoting sound competition in the Philippines is a gargantuan task that, frankly, the PCC cannot do by itself. Needless to say, our future success will bank on the continued support, cooperation, and interest of all our stakeholders.
In many ways, the work before the Commission has barely started, and for sure many more challenges will come our way. However, I am solaced not only by the fact that I have beside me very competent and dedicated colleagues and staff, but also by the continuing support of our colleagues and friends. In behalf of the PCC Commissioners and staff, I would like to thank you all for the wonderful year it has been. We look forward to many more productive, exciting, and fruitful years with you in our collective pursuit for a more competitive and inclusive Philippine economy.
Thank you and please enjoy the rest of the celebrations.
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