THE Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has held Pilipinas Enterprise Management Holdings Inc. (PEMHI) and Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen) jointly liable for P5.8 million in penalties over delayed merger-related reports.
The penalty covers three violations of Section 29(b) of the Philippine Competition Act, after the companies repeatedly failed to meet reporting deadlines imposed as a condition for the Commission’s clearance of a major power-sector transaction.
The case stemmed from the acquisition of interests in power generation and industrial companies by MGen and Therma NatGas Power Inc. through Chromite Gas Holdings Inc. and San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp.
To address competition concerns over possible coordinated conduct in energy sales and the exercise of market power, the parties submitted an Undertaking containing commitments that the PCC accepted as conditions for approving the transaction.
One requirement obligated the notifying parties to submit to the PCC’s Mergers and Acquisitions Office, within 15 days after each calendar quarter, copies of the Comparative Retail Electricity Market reports that retail electricity supplier entities had filed with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
The PCC took up the matter following a complaint from its mergers office concerning delayed submissions by Global Energy Supply Corp., a retail electricity supplier subsidiary of Pemhi.
It found Pemhi and MGen liable for three counts of non-compliance involving reports for the first three quarters of 2025. The first-quarter report was submitted 215 days late, the second-quarter report 126 days late and the third-quarter report 34 days late.
The companies argued that the delays resulted from oversight, human error and a misunderstanding of the reporting requirements.
The commission rejected their explanation, ruling that the reporting schedule was part of their own voluntary commitments and could not be relaxed by citing flexibility under ERC regulatory resolutions.
MGen paid the P5.8-million administrative fine in full on October 16, with the amount remitted to the Bureau of the Treasury.
‘Voluntary commitments submitted as a condition for merger approval are binding obligations that must be fulfilled in good faith,’ PCC Chairperson Michael Aguinaldo said.
He added that the ruling underscored that regulatory deadlines could not be treated as a matter of corporate convenience, particularly in priority sectors such as energy.
‘Unsubstantiated delays compromise our capacity to monitor transactions effectively.’