2023 Annual Report: Off to a Fast Start
The new leadership at the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) hit the ground running in 2023. Amid rising food prices, the PCC pitched in to the whole-of-government approach to combat inflation as it conducted its first-ever dawn raid against an alleged onion cartel. To cover more ground, it established new investigation stations and laid down novel measures to regulate competition in the digital era. The agency also ramped up merger reviews as the economic recovery fueled dealmaking among businesses. With the recovery from the pandemic slowdown opening up new avenues for strategic partnership, the PCC kicked off its champions program, as well as policy dialogues with key regulators amid the rollout of the National Competition Policy.
As new challenges emerge alongside continuous efforts to address market inefficiencies, the PCC stands ready to promote and protect fair market competition.
Download (PCC-Annual-Report-2023.pdf)
2022 Annual Report: A Year of Change
In 2022, the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) navigated a confluence of changes, including the economy’s emergence from the pandemic-induced crisis, the accelerated adoption of digital markets, and the changing of the guards both at the national leadership and at the country’s antitrust authority. Despite these, the PCC was resolute in its commitment to uphold competition law and policy through its steadfast efforts in enforcement, merger and acquisition review, economic and policy research, and advocacy. The PCC’s dedication to advancing competition policy as a critical component of the whole-of-government approach to promoting economic resurgence and inclusive growth is a testament to its unwavering pursuit of a more equitable distribution of opportunities, income and wealth, and the sustained increase in the amount of goods and services produced by the nation for the benefit of the people.
Download (PCC-2022-Annual-Report-A-Year-of-Change.pdf)
2021 Annual Report: Making Competition Policy Work for Economic Recovery
In 2021, the COVID-19 vaccine provided countries an opportunity to gradually restart their economies. However, the road to recovery has been hampered by various challenges, among them, the emergence of new COVID-19 variants and the occurrence of natural disasters.
In response to the rapidly evolving threats to health and economic recovery, the Philippine Competition Commission recalibrated its strategies to ensure that it remained responsive to pressing needs while fulfilling its mandate of protecting and promoting market competition. It significantly allotted more resources to competition enforcement, creating specialized divisions to handle cases of cartels and abuses of dominance. The agency intensified its monitoring of priority markets and provided competition-related inputs to economic relief bills, among others. It continued mainstreaming competition through strategic partnerships and through an advocacy and capacity-building program that harnesses the power of digital technologies to reach, educate, and engage more stakeholders.
Download (Annual-Report-2021.pdf)
2020 Annual Report: Upholding Market Competition Amid the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only disrupted businesses but also heightened the risk of anti-competitive behavior that could further distort the level playing field for businesses and harm consumer welfare. Bearing this in mind, the PCC has remained vigilant in upholding its competition mandate amid the pandemic. It intensified competition enforcement by establishing an online consumer complaints system, investigating cartels, and reviewing all received merger transactions within the prescribed timelines. It ramped up advocacy and capacity-building initiatives for various stakeholders and strengthened partnerships with entities within and outside the country, including the business sector. It also completed market studies and policy research on select industries and sectors.
Download (Annual-Report-2020.pdf)
2019 Annual Report: Keeping Unfair Competition in Check
The persistence of anti-competitive policies and business practices poses a risk to the sustainability and inclusivity of economic growth. Effective enforcement of competition law and policy is thus essential to the country’s long-term development agenda. To instill discipline in the markets, PCC has flexed its enforcement muscle: it decided on its first abuse of dominance case, issued its first merger prohibition, and imposed hefty fines on competition law violators. As it matures as a competition authority, PCC has sustained its momentum in delivering stronger competition enforcement and in pursuing its mandate to prohibit anti-competitive agreements, abuses of market dominance, and anti-competitive mergers and acquisitions.
Download (Annual-Report-2019.pdf)
2018 Annual Report: Disrupting Unfair Market Competition
Disrupting unfair market competition has been the battlecry of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) since it was established in 2016. Unfair market competition affects not only businesses but consumers as well, both having to cope with low quality and high prices of goods and services. Two years into its existence, the PCC remains unwavering in its commitment and mission to serve as a disruptive force that works to correct the uneven playing field across all industries and sectors in the Philippines.
Download (Annual-Report-2018.pdf)
2017 Annual Report: Mainstreaming Competition Policy, Building Partnerships
Just a little over two years since the landmark enactment of the Philippine Competition Act (PCA) in 2015, significant headway has been made in mainstreaming competition policy in the Philippines. For the first time in the country’s socioeconomic planning history, a dedicated chapter on competition was adopted in the Philippine Development Plan for 2017-2022, which serves as the country’s blueprint for development in the medium term. With this game-changing development, the enforcement of competition policy became part and parcel of the country’s development strategy for sustained and inclusive growth.
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2016 Annual Report: Scaling New Heights
Before the Philippine Competition Act (PCA) was enacted in 2015, competition related policies in the country were widely fragmented. In the absence of a central competition authority, government regulators and agencies were mandated to enforce numerous competition-related laws in their respective sectors or industries. Despite the considerable number and varied nature of competition related laws in the country, anti-competitive behavior in the market persisted. With the PCA, and the subsequent establishment of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), market competition will be taken to new heights. As an independent and quasi-judicial body, PCC sets its sights not only on enforcing the PCA but also on promoting and instilling a culture of competition through advocacy, capacity building, and research. PCC envisions to foster a market economy where businesses compete and consumers benefit.
Download (Annual-Report-2016.pdf)