THE Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) is set to file charges against 12 unscrupulous onion importers and traders who engaged in anti-competitive practices, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said yesterday.
The PCO, in a news release, said the PCC on August 13 submitted a memorandum for President Marcos, sent through Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, about the filing of a case against 12 companies and individuals engaged in onion importation and trading for violating the Philippine Competition Act.
The PCC’s Enforcement Office, which conducted the investigation, has also recommended a total fine of P2.4 billion against the violators.
The 12 however, were not named.
The PCO said based on the PCC Enforcement Office’s investigation, the 12 had agreed to allocate the supply of onions in the country including assigning among themselves the sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances (SPSIC) issued by the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI), and distribution of the volume of onion allowed for importation.
It added by agreeing to allocate SPSICs and divide among themselves the actual volume of imports, they effectively controlled more than 50 percent of the volume of onions imported into the Philippines during the relevant period which violates the anti-competitive agreement penalized under Section 14(b)(2) of the PCA.
The 12 also “colluded to lessen competition in the market” by – despite being competitors- sharing, exchanging, and discussing sensitive business information such as price, suppliers, customers, volume, shipping, distribution, and storage among themselves.
The PCC, in its report said with such a scheme, “the importers and traders avoided competing with each other and failed to independently decide on their policies and have substituted the risk of competition with cooperation.”
It added that “such an agreement has the object of restriction or distortion of competition and has inherent restrictive effects upon competition.”
The President earlier directed the PCC and other government agencies to pursue the filing of cases against smugglers, hoarders and those engaged in anti-competitive practices.
In 2023, PCC in coordination with the Department of Agriculture, had started investigations on suspected smuggling and cartel activity in the onion industry that resulted in high prices in the previous year.
The DA had also approved in January 2023 the importation of more than 20,000 metric.
