COMPETITION BODY TIES UP WITH JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has partnered with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to step up campaign against anticompetitive conduct and ensure enforcement of competition law.

Topofficials of thePCCand and the DOJ signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on Friday night.

Competition Chair Arsenio Balisacan told reporters that the DOJ was an “important component” in the enforcement of the competition law.

This is because the DOJ, led by former competition commissioner and now Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, handles the prosecution of criminal cases involving anticompetitive behavior, such as price fixing and cartel.

Also, this partnership plays a role in PCC’s leniency program, which Balisacan said would give an “incentive” for whistle blowers to speak up.

The partnership with the DOJ will ensure that the department will grantwhistle blowers with thesame incentive that the PCCwill give.

There would be a chance that “by coming forward, they would be given immunity or re- duced penalty.”

“We have our leniency program. That, is of course, for administrative cases. For criminal cases, they (DOJ) also have a leniency program,” he said.

“But we have to make sure that these two [things] are in harmony. Part of this partnership is to ensure that is the case. For example, if we grant immunity, [then we can also expect that immunity will be granted by the other side], and vice versa,” he added.

Balisacan said that theywerestill finalizing the program, but he noted that it would hopefully be finished before the end of the year.