Belmonte assures full and fair competition in trade

MANILA, Philippines - Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. has assured leaders of local and foreign businesses that Congress strongly supports initiatives enhancing national policies promoting fair and full competition in all commercial economic activities.

"Meaningful socio-economic development means, among others, promoting and enhancing economic efficiency and full competition in trade, industry and all related activities," Belmonte stressed, adding that, "we must encourage more direct investments."

He underlined the need to enact the proposed Philippine Fair Competition Act contained in House Bill 4835 or the Competition Policy or Anti-Trust Act, which is pending for approval on 2nd reading.

"We are aware of the very limited time left for the 15th Congress, but we also can't just pass any measure half-baked. Even if we are able to pass it before the June sine die, the measure will still have to pass Senate scrutiny as well," said Belmonte, one of the principal authors of the bill.

Belmonte is confident that the 16th Congress would give due consideration to the measure as well as many other vital measures, already in their advanced stages in the 15th Congress - all in support of the reform process started by the current Congress.

"The reform process that we have started working on together must continue. We have planted the seeds of change in this congress for the next one to develop and harvest, so to speak," Belmonte stressed.

Belmonte said that the passage of HB 4835 is essential to level the playing field among firms and to effectively reduce transaction costs and risks for businesses.

He is also strongly batting for the enactment of the amendments to the BOT law and the House-approved National Land Use Policy Act, which has been relayed to the Senate. This is apart from his advocacy to remove the economic restrictions in the Constitution.

HB 4835, authored by some 75 lawmakers, is entitled: "An Act penalizing anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position, and anti-competitive mergers, establishing the Philippine Fair Competition Commission and appropriating funds therefor, and for other purposes."

Another major objective of the bill is to prevent the concentration of economic power in a few persons who threaten to control the production, trade, or industry in order to stifle competition, distort, manipulate or constrict the discipline of free markets, and increase market prices.