PCC, SM team up to promote fair competition

MANILA, Philippines — SM Supermalls has teamed up with the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to promote fair competition through an information campaign as part of its commitment to ensuring a level playing field and consumer welfare.

The partnership is also expected to enable SM to correct any anti-competitive practices.

A memorandum of cooperation between PCC and SM Prime Holdings Inc. was signed by PCC chair Michael Aguinaldo and SM Supermalls assistant vice president for operations Christian Mathay yesterday.

The partnership will involve the conduct of a nationwide information campaign to raise public awareness about the PCC’s mandate.

Aguinaldo said the partnership would involve featuring PCC’s 30-second advertisement three times a day in all the cinemas of SM’s 86 malls nationwide.

According to Aguinaldo, SM has agreed to allot space on their electronic billboards and information spaces to advocate competition, as well as space in their information desks for PCC advocacy materials.

Moreover, the country’s biggest mall operator will conduct seminars on competition law and policy for their employees and mall tenants for the next two years.

“They will also appoint a competition compliance officer who will work with the PCC in coming up with a compliance program for SM and who will be the point person for any competition related concerns that may be brought to the attention of the PCC,” Aguinaldo said.

“This will in effect provide an opportunity for SM to correct itself in case there are any anti-competitive practices before it goes to the level of an actual case,” Aguinaldo added.

SM proposed the partnership with the PCC after a social media post by a netizen questioned the supposed preference for kiosks and food carts in SM malls to sell only SM Bonus bottled water.

Aguinaldo said the PCC did not receive any complaint on the matter, but SM looked into the concern and reached out to the competition authority.

“SM Supermalls recognizes its enduring partnership with the PCC. SM Supermalls believes that fair market competition will lead to a vibrant and inclusive economy, and advance consumer welfare. It likewise shares the PCC’s vision that fair market competition serves the interest of consumers by allowing them to exercise their right of choice over goods and services offered in the market,” Mathay said.

By working with the PCC, SM Supermalls president Steven Tan said that the mall operator could empower consumers in making informed choices and contributing to a robust and competitive market.

Aguinaldo said the PCC is hopeful that other conglomerates and businesses will follow suit and establish their own compliance programs.

“We’re also studying ways on how to incentivize businesses to comply with the law through compliance programs,” he said.

In the same event, Aguinaldo said the PCC would issue its decision on the $3.3-billion deal involving the joint investment of Meralco PowerGen Corp. and Aboitiz Power Corp. in two gas-fired power plants under Ramon Ang’s San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp. this month.

“By the end of the month or maybe first two weeks of November, it should be resolved,” he said.

The STAR first reported the landmark deal for the country’s first and largest integrated liquefied natural gas facility.

As of Sept.17, there are eight merger and acquisition transactions subject to ongoing review at the PCC with a total transaction value of P204 billion. Three of those transactions involve finance and insurance, two are on energy, two on wholesale and retail trade and one on real estate.