House Assistant Minority Leader and Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo has manifested her strong support to the proposed P513.9-million budget of the Philippine Competition Commission for 2021.
The former member of the PCC said the spending proposal of an agency tasked to promote competition in markets deserved to be supported by Congress.
"Now more than ever, we need PCC have strong budgetary support, as prices of goods and services need to be kept at the lowest possible level, and the most cost effective way to do this is to promote competition in markets,” she said in her manifestation before the House of Representatives’ recent plenary deliberations on the Commission’s proposed budget for 2021.
"We need to support PCC as they fight cartels and prevent anti competitive mergers and acquisitions,” she pointed out.
She noted that the PCC is the only government agency they have encountered so far whose authorized plantilla positions are 100-percent filled.
"Kung nakikinig po sana ang DBM, sana ay ma approve nila and requested additional plantilla positions (If the DBM is listening, I hope they will approve the requested additional plantilla positions,” Quimbo said.
“PCC urgently needs these two critical plantilla positions so they can be more effective in their fight to keep markets competitive and protect consumers. It is for these reasons that I strongly support the budget of PCC,” she said.
The House plenary terminated the deliberations on the PCC’s proposed budget for next year, which is higher from this year’s budget of P455.1-million.
The PCC is the lead implementing arm of Republic Act No. 10667 or the Philippine Competition Act, which seeks to promote and protect competitive markets.