Philippine

competition act
(R.A. NO. 10667)
Melissa Leah T. Diana-Pacuribot
Practice Court II
The State aims to:
1. Promote market efficiency in the allocation of
goods and services
2. Safeguard competitive conditions
3. Promote entrepreneurial spirit, encourage
investments, facilitate technological
development/ transfer and enhance
productivity
4. Promote the right of choice of consumers

Policies and Rationale

• The more competition results in more
products and services which in turn result
in lower prices and better products and
services.

• On the other hand, anti-competitive acts

result in lesser goods and services with
higher prices and poorer services and
lower quality products.

Rationale
• Article XII, Section 19
• Section 19. The State shall regulate or prohibit monopolies when the public
interest so requires. No combinations in restraint of trade or unfair competition
shall be allowed.

• This provision espouses competition as enunciated in the case of Tatad vs The

Secretary of Department of Energy, GR No. 124360, November 5, 1997

• Section 1. The goals of the national economy are a more equitable distribution
of opportunities, income, and wealth; a sustained increase in the amount of
goods and services produced by the nation for the benefit of the people; and an
expanding productivity as the key to raising the quality of life for all, especially
the underprivileged.
• 2nd par …. the State shall protect Filipino enterprises against unfair foreign
competition and trade practices.
Constitutional Provisions
1. Imposing criminal and/or administrative sanctions or liability –
Article 186 of the RPC
• Agreement or contract in the form of trust or otherwise that
restrains trade
• Monopolies to restrain free competition
• Manufacturers, importers combine to make transaction
prejudicial to commerce or increase market prices
Price Act – RA No. 7581 prohibits manipulation of price of basic or
prime commodities
2. Imposing civil liability
3. Public authority intervention in the marketplace
Ways to Deter Anti-
Competitive Conduct
• Torts
• Article 28, NCC - Unfair competition in agricultural, commercial or
industrial enterprises or in labor through the use of force, intimidation,
deceit, machination or any other unjust, oppressive or highhanded method
shall give rise to a right of action by the person who thereby suffers
damage.

• In Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc. vs Sps. Bernardo, GR No 190667,

November 7, 2016 the Court held that there is unfair competition when a
manufacturer that sells goods to a seller obtained the list of the clients of
the same seller in a specific area and to facilitate its takeover of the latter’s
usual business area by directly approaching the same clients and by offering
more advantageous terms.
• Intellectual Property Code
• Prohibits infringement of IP rights as
well as unfair competition.
• Unfair competition under the IP Code
means passing off or attempting to pass
off upon the public goods or business of
one as goods or business of the other
• It creates Philippine Competition
Commission with powers to intervene in
the market and has original and primary
jurisdiction to enforce and implement
PCA.
• Expressly identifies the prohibited acts.
• Imposes administrative and criminal
penalties.
Public Authority
Intervention
• enforceable against any person or entity engaged in any trade, industry and
commerce in the Republic of the Philippines
• applicable to international trade having direct, substantial, and reasonably
foreseeable effects in trade, industry, or commerce in the Republic of the
Philippines, including those that result from acts done outside the Republic
of the Philippines.

• NOT APPLICABLE to CBA - shall not apply to the combinations or

activities of workers or employees nor to agreements or arrangements with
their employers when such combinations, activities, agreements, or
arrangements are designed solely to facilitate collective bargaining in
respect of conditions of employment.
Scope of the Application
of PCA
• Relevant market refers to the market in which a particular good or service is
sold and which is a combination of the relevant product market and the
relevant geographic market, defined as follows:
(1) A relevant product market comprises all those goods and/or services which
are regarded as interchangeable or substitutable by the consumer or the
customer, by reason of the goods and/or services’ characteristics, their prices
and their intended use; and

(2) The relevant geographic market comprises the area in which the entity
concerned is involved in the supply and demand of goods and services, in
which the conditions of competition are sufficiently homogenous and which
can be distinguished from neighboring areas because the conditions of
competition are different in those areas.

Relevant Market Rule

1. Physical characteristic of banana make it different from
other fruits; they do not belong to the same market;
2. Low priced watches or cars are not substitutable with
luxury brand watches or cars even if sold in the same
market;
3. Tires that are sold in bulk to car dealers do not belong to
the same relevant market as tires sold to the public on
retail basis.

Examples of Relevant
Product Market
• The acquisition of shares was allowed
because geographical market for airplane
parts and services is global in scope and the
parties have negligible or limited operations
in the Philippines (PCA Decision)

Example of Relevant
Geographic Market
• An entity that controls, is controlled by, or is under
common control with another entity or entities, have
common economic interests, and are not otherwise
able to decide or act independently of each other,
shall not be considered competitors for purposes of
Anti-Competitive Agreements.
• Control is presumed to exist when the parent owns
directly or indirectly, through subsidiaries, more
than ½ of the voting power of an entity unless the
otherwise is clearly demonstrated.

Single Economic Unit

Rule
1. Anti-Competitive Agreements
2. Abuse of Dominant Position
3. Anti-Competitive Mergers

Prohibited Acts
(a) The following agreements, between or among
competitors, are per se prohibited:
• (1) Restricting competition as to price, or components
thereof, or other terms of trade;
• (2) Fixing price at an auction or in any form of bidding
including cover bidding, bid suppression, bid rotation and
market allocation and other analogous practices of bid
manipulation;

Anti-Competitive
Agreements
(b) The following agreements, between or among competitors which
have the object or effect of substantially preventing, restricting or
lessening competition shall be prohibited:
• (1) Setting, limiting, or controlling production, markets, technical
development, or investment;
• (2) Dividing or sharing the market, whether by volume of sales or
purchases, territory, type of goods or services, buyers or sellers or
any other means;

(c) Agreements other than those specified in (a) and (b) of this section
which have the object or effect of substantially preventing, restricting
or lessening competition shall also be prohibited: Provided, Those
which contribute to improving the production or distribution of goods
and services or to promoting technical or economic progress, while
allowing consumers a fair share of the resulting benefits, may not
necessarily be deemed a violation of this Act.
• Dominant position refers to a position of economic
strength that an entity or entities hold which makes it
capable of controlling the relevant market independently
from any or a combination of the following: competitors,
customers, suppliers, or consumers.
• Dominant position is not by itself a violation; an entity
that is big and dominant does not violate the law.
• It is the abuse of such dominant position that is
prohibited.

Abuse of Dominant
Position
• (a) The share of the entity in the relevant market and whether it is able to fix prices
unilaterally or to restrict supply in the relevant market;
• (b) The existence of barriers to entry and the elements which could foreseeably alter
both said barriers and the supply from competitors;
• (c) The existence and power of its competitors;
• (d) The possibility of access by its competitors or other entities to its sources of inputs;
• (e) The power of its customers to switch to other goods or services;
• (f) Its recent conducts; and
• (g) Other criteria established by the regulations

• There shall be a rebuttable presumption of market dominant position if the market

share of an entity in the relevant market is at least fifty percent (50%), unless a new
market share threshold is determined by the Commission for that particular sector.

Market Dominant Position

1. Selling goods or services below cost to drive out competiiion from
relevant market;
2. Imposing barriers to entry or committing acts that prevent competitors
from growing within the market in an anti-competitive manner except
those that develop in the market as a result of or arising from a superior
product or process, business acumen, or legal rights or laws;
3. Making supply of particular goods or services dependent upon the
purchase of other goods or services from the supplier which have no
direct connection with the main goods or services to be supplied;
4.  Limiting production, markets or technical development to the
prejudice of consumers.

Examples of Abuse
• (1) Permissible franchising, licensing,
exclusive merchandising or exclusive
distributorship agreements such as those
which give each party the right to
unilaterally terminate the agreement; or
• (2) Agreements protecting intellectual
property rights, confidential information,
or trade secrets;

No Abuse/Valid
Agreements
• Merger or acquisition agreements that substantially prevent,
restrict or lessen competition in the relevant market or in the
market for goods or services as may be determined by the
Commission shall be prohibited.
• Simply put, there are mergers and acquisitions that can lead
to a market that is disadvantageous to consumers because
they could be harmful to competition. In particular, some
mergers, especially those that involve dominant companies,
could potentially turn a competitive market into one that is
not.
• The PCA can review mergers and acquisitions – either motu
proprio or upon notice.

Anti-Competitive Merger
Gracias!