Pre-emptive, defensive or frightened?

How is it possible for a telecom company who controls at least half of the voice and text market as well as broadband Internet, to file a complaint or case with the Philippine Competition Commission against a company that is not even considered to be “operating” yet?

The word on the street is that Globe Telecoms will or has filed a complaint against San Miguel Corp. presumably for having control of the 700MHz bandwidth that they deem is an unfair advantage or unfavorable to market competition. Apparently the 700 MHz is a far superior or effective bandwidth or whatchamacallit that will allow users to send signals through walls etc., and drastically reduce dropped call problems and “no signal” issues.

Having control or ownership of the bandwidth is certainly something to be envious about, but companies that have control of two or three other frequencies such as Globe, ought to concentrate more on improving their technology and services instead of trying to block or beat down companies that they once labeled as not being a threat. In fact, a Globe executive once said that they were not afraid and welcomed the competition. If they are not afraid, then does it follow that they are simply trying to weed out or block out possible competition, which violates the mandate of the Philippine Competition Commission?

Is the complaint intended as a first strike towards a campaign to wrestle ownership or control of the 700 MHz frequency that would result in a worse form of unfair or no-competition, or is it simply an irritant intended to distract or deter SMC from pursuing their telco plans the same way Telstra was reportedly intimidated and scared off like a kangaroo shooed out of the veggie patch. This would be folly because knowing SMC and Ramon Ang, these guys don’t scare easy and are simply being polite and professional.

Whatever Globe’s intentions may be, it would be worthwhile for the hatchet men and strategists at Globe to let sleeping dogs lie. Unlike SMC that has yet to get their feet wet, Globe in this instance by filing a case becomes the pot calling the kettle black. There is a sufficient amount of customers who are unhappy about Globe’s services, rates and terms. So far no one has had enough reason or motivation to do something about it. The last thing Globe wants is to start a fight with a company that can put a mirror to Globe’s imperfections and defects.

If Globe lawyers want to exercise their courtroom skills, they should go and file cases against each and every local official who have tried to extort from them in exchange for special use permits or blocked their efforts to build cell sites and relay towers. If Globe wants to show they mean business, first concentrate on the real and actual threats to the network’s growth.

So far Globe has maintained an image of being decent, even though less than perfect. The image of being a bully or prone to litigation and averse to competition will ultimately do more harm for the big picture of Globe and their allied companies. As the good Lord has said: “He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone.”

* * * It was a dog fight, not a vice presidential debate, and if the candidates looked and behaved like Pit Bulls in an arena, they have only themselves to blame.

Aside from Manny Pacquiao, the only real winner last Sunday was CNN Philippines for having the good fortune of hosting the first vice presidential dog fight on national TV. The rest of the participants, namely the vice presidential candidates looked like a bunch of Pit Bulls or Askals or mongrels who were prepped, trained or otherwise agitated to attack or defend themselves from questions posed, audience participation and opportunistic dog bites from fellow candidates or hecklers.

You know things are not going to end well when the opening announcements remind you of the Pacquiao vs Bradley bout instead of a formal, polite if not proper opening of the event consistent with the CNN style and not a Vegas prize fight. To be fair, it may have been a hangover effect of the “Lets Get Ready to Rumble” spiel, or was simply the coping mechanism of the anchors who had to deal with a rowdy noisy crowd of hecklers and supporters. Whatever the reasons, the tone and volume of the opening announcement was clearly prophetic of things to come.

There was No Debate – just a Dog Fight. They hardly talked about or discussed policy, political agenda or platform, no real dissertation of programs or accomplishments and there was no real effort to direct the program on what each candidate stood for, has dedicated their lives to and what their driving passion has been in the last six years or the past decade. Anything that had to do with real work and real accomplishment was mentioned only in passing. Whatever little they mentioned was drowned out by the accusations and the snarling and growling.

Unfortunately, none of the vice presidential aspirants came out as a winner because those who gave the most number of bites looked like self-righteous zealots performing at the Roman coliseum while the other half ended up being treated like dogs that were all bark but no bite. Stepping back from the brawl I realized that the ones with the least political experience or traction were all too willing to insult and inflict harm while those with more experience and track record made the fatal mistake of being polite instead of seriously biting back and not letting go. The motto of the day was apparently: If you have nothing you can brag about, go and pick on someone else’s flaws.

In the end, the day was undoubtedly a day of No Knock Outs. Pacman may have decked Bradley twice but not out cold and Bongbong Marcos who became everybody’s meal ticket, got picked on by the pack but ended up having the last laugh as the recent survey put him on top of the race. In the end, what we saw was the TV version of “The

Worst Things About Filipinos.” What we learned yet again is that debates involving political candidates are not polite, not proper or civil and not necessarily honest or truthful. It was ugly.