PCC to study anti-competitive behavior in 9 priority sectors this year

Antitrust watchdog Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) is conducting market studies on at least nine priority sectors this year to ensure no anti-competitive practices are happening.

In a press conference in Makati City on Wednesday, PCC Commissioner Stella Quimbo said the study would be an objective evaluation of what’s happening the following sectors:

• rice

• retail

• pharmaceuticals

• digital commerce

• air transportation

• agricultural credit

• meat and poultry

• land transportation

• telecommunications

“We would take the market studies as an objective assessment of the sector. The commission will prioritize those concerns and then figure out how to proceed with those concerns,” Quimbo noted.

Several studies will be done by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), but PCC Commissioner Johannes Bernabe said the commission is open to tapping foreign think tanks.

“Pwedeng foreign. Kaso, ang hirap sa foreign entity, you have to be familiar with the Philippine setting,” he said.

The PCC said earlier it will study the logistics sector, but clarified on Wednesday that the sector will now be under land and air transportation.

Quimbo said earlier the market studies may be used either for filing cases against practioners of anti-competitive behavior and advocating for policy changes in government. —VDS, GMA News