Win Transcript Opening statement Public Services hearing
PUBLIC SERVICES JOINT WITH FINANCE; AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS HEARING|
LAUREL ROOM, SENATE OF THE PHILIPPINES

SEN WIN: Just a brief opening statement, looking at our situation right now, it's actually quite absurd that we have an 82-year old Law governing our public services as well as public utility here in the Philippines. I think we are all in agreement that this 82-year old law cannot bring us to the 21st century as well as to the next century that we plan to endeavour. A lot of the provisions here are quite obsolete and let me just point out a very glaring industry or a very glaring business that's included here in the 82-year old law, the inclusion of ice plant and ice refrigeration in the definition of public services. Wala po akong alam na ice plant o ice refrigeration company na kumukuha ng CPCN or franchise, I don't even know any administrative entity overseeing an ice plant or an ice refrigeration company. It's obvious that this law is really quite obsolete and cannot adapt to the present situation of our economy right now.

So Madam Chair, I know that a lot of our Senators and Congressmen filed a similar bill but definitely, the intention here is to define what is public services, define what is public utility with the end-goal of bringing more investors, whether local or international, into this public services sector. I am a firm believer of competition, I really believe that competition will improve services, lower cost, and grow the economy, the more players come in into the different industries such as telecom in particular, the more players that come in to the telecom industry, the better it is for us but alongside this bill, we should also remove barriers to entry. One of the bills we are pushing in the Senate right now is the mobile portability measure in which it will give our consumers the power to move around different networks bringing their own cellphone numbers. Hindi niyo na ho kailangang magpalit ng cellphone number. Again, the more competition, the better for the consumers and better for the economy.

Thank you Mr. Chair.