Anti-trust bills gain momentum

Excerpt from ANGEL THOUGHTS column by DeeDee M. Siytangco, Manila Bulletin, 11 April 2011.
(Original and full article hit the stands on 10 April 2011, and is available online here).

"Given this, in light of recent headlines, anti-trust supporters have been handed the perfect opportunity to promote their cause. As a concept, anti-trust has been discussed and debated in the Philippines for years, going back to the Marcos era when monopolies were rampant.

In 2008, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile already proposed Senate Bill 123, otherwise known as the anti-trust act, but to date, nothing concrete has come out of it. We don’t have an anti-trust law that will prevent “pacman-type tycoons” gobbling up business in all sectors – telecoms, infrastructure, medical centers, media, among others. In Asia, we are only one of two countries without this law!

It’s only now that we are beginning to realize how this anti-trust thing can actually affect our livelihoods, job securities, income opportunities, and even our ability to make text messages and calls on our cellphones free of charge!

Lately, a number of giant corporations have been under the anti-trust spotlight, and the discussions have finally been brought to a level that the man-on-the-street can relate to."