The Philippine Competition Commission asked the Supreme Court to lift the injunction on the review of a P69.1-billion deal between the largest telecommunication companies.
The Office of the Solicitor General filed on behalf of the PCC a petition before the Supreme Court to lift the preliminary injunction issued by the Court of Appeals, which halted the anti-trust body’s review of the acquisition of San Miguel Corp.’s telecom assets by PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc.
“By this petition, we elevate the matter to the highest court of the land to finally allow us to fulfill our legal mandate in the interest of promoting competition in the telco market,” PCC chairman Arsenio Balisacan told reporters in a news briefing.
“What we are asking [Supreme Court] is to issue order to PLDT in the meantime to discontinue its consummation of the last tranche because it’s more difficult to undo,” he said.
Balisacan said the consummation of the P69.1-billion telco deal would be more costly and limit PCC’s remedies.
The last payment of PLDT for the acquisition of the 50-percent stake in Vega Telecom Inc., Bow Arken (the parent company of New Century Telecoms, Inc.) and Brightshare (the parent company of eTelco Inc.) is on May 30.
PLDT already paid San Miguel P19.8 billion as of December 2016.
The other 50 percent of the P52.8 billion, excluding the liabilities, would be settled by Globe.
“Those two actions will allow PCC to finally fulfill its legal mandate to continue its review of the telco deal,” Balisacan said.
PCC wants to review the distribution of 700-megahertz bandwidth, which the industry described as powerful broadband frequency.
PCC’s initial findings on the transaction showed that the telco deal was anti-competitive. PCC said its position was to prioritize public interest in evaluating the competition concerns in every merger or acquisition deal that fell within its jurisdiction.
“We must not lose sight of our main goal in pursuing the review of the acquisition. That is, to ensure the preservation of a level playing field for incumbent and prospective players in the telco industry,” Balisacan said.
“The current legal challenge to PCC’s regulatory authority is a familiar scenario faced by competition authorities worldwide. What is good to remember is that companies all over the world have learned to faithfully comply with competition regulations and M&A review procedures,” Balisacan said.
“If our local companies want to be global players, they will need to abide by these rules. PLDT and Globe should be no exception,” he said.
Representatives of PLDT and Globe said they had not yet received a copy of the PCC petition.