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Philippine Competition Commission Says There Is No Need To Extend Merger Reviews

By  |  June 6, 2021

Johannes Benjamin R. Bernabe, a commissioner at the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), said he hoped Bayanihan III will not extend the exemption from compulsory notification all mergers and acquisitions with transaction value of less than P50 billion (US$1.04 billion) that were entered into two years from the effectivity of Republic Act No. 11494 or Bayanihan II.

“I just hope that (Bayanihan III) will not go in the direction of Bayanihan II, which had a last-minute insertion which curbed the powers of the PCC,” Mr. Bernabe said in a phone interview.

Signed in September 2020, Bayanihan II also suspended the PCC’s review of these transactions, conducted on its own initiative, for a year.

“That’s something that I hope Bayanihan III will not extend,” Mr. Bernabe said, noting that the proposed stimulus measure, which offers cash aid and wage subsidies, will help the Filipino people.