Philippine watchdog finds 'indications" of anticompetitive agreements

The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) discovered in its ongoing full administrative investigation “indications of anticompetitive agreements” in the local cement industry, senior officials told reporters on yesterday.

Antitrust body commissioners said in a press briefing in Manila that PCC’s competition enforcement office was pursuing the investigation. “The competition enforcement office has seen indications of anticompetitive agreements that they are continuously studying and investigating to establish their theory of what has happened or what is going on in the cement industry,” said Commissioner Johannes Benjamin R Bernabe.

He added that the enforcement office would later on decide whether or not there was enough evidence to merit the office to submit the case to the PCC commissioners for adjudication.

In August last year, former trade undersecretary and now Laban Konsyumer Inc president Victorio Dimagiba filed an affidavit-complaint in PCC against the Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (Cemap), led by its president Ernesto Ordoñez, Lafarge Holcim Philippines Inc and Republic Cement and Building Materials Inc—all of which were accused of anticompetitive behaviour.

This led to a preliminary inquiry that later on developed into a full administrative investigation after the watchdog found reasonable grounds for a more thorough probe.

The commissioners said that an investigation would be done within a two-year period. In the case of the cement industry, the investigation began in January. (Source: Inquirer, Philippines)