The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) vowed to use its iron fist against competition-law violators this year, and one of the industries it intends to investigate is the rice sector.
In an interview with the BusinessMirror, PCC Commissioner Johannes R. Bernabe said the PCC will look into the rice industry to assess if there are anticompetitive practices within the circle of rice importers.
“As you know, our chairman, [Arsenio M. Balisacan], is a former National Economic and Development Authority head, and I think he is always concerned [that] poverty has not been alleviated in the Philippines, so he identifies rice as one of the primary concerns,” he said.
The PCC will probe the rice sector, along with eight others, this year for reported anticompetitive practices. Aside from rice, the antitrust agency will also do a market study on meat and poultry, pharmaceutics, land transportation, air transportation, agricultural credit, digital commerce, retail and telecommunications.
Bernabe said the market study on rice will try to identify anticompetitive practices in the industry and how this contributes to the capacity of consumers to purchase the staple. He added the PCC will pinpoint if the sector do have cartels.
“Rice [is the most] basic staple [in our country]. I think beyond whatever policy the government has in place, what is important from the PCC’s perspective is to see whether there are distribution channels that might have certain practices, which we will need to look at from a competition angle,” Bernabe said.
However, Bernabe admitted the PCC has yet to consult the National Food Authority (NFA) on the planned investigation into the rice industry, but will do so once the market study is completed. The market study will cover all aspects of the sectors to be probed and the PCC will make policy recommendations to concerned government regulators based on it.
“It can be that the issue paper will say the problem lies elsewhere. It [might] not be anything regarding policies, maybe [it] has got to do with ensuring that distribution channels or the logistics sector is improved and opened up to more competition,” he added.
PCC Commissioner Stella Luz A. Quimbo said the nine industries will be scrutinized because they were deemed by the agency as most crucial to consumers. “As you know, we had identified priority sectors, and these sectors tend to be those that would have a big impact to consumers,” she said last Wednesday.
Most of the market studies will be conducted by the state’s think tank, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, in compliance to a memorandum of agreement with the PCC. All of the market studies are expected to be completed within the year.
