Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali has  urged the country’s more than six million farmers and their dependents to rally behind the move to create an antitrust law to protect them from foreign monopolists out to control the multibillion-peso tobacco industry.

The absence of the law enables big businesses to manipulate prices, control supplies, dictate government budgets through paid taxes and have strong lobbying power to pursue their economic interests, Umali said.

Umali, who is chairman of the House committee on Energy also filed his EPIRA Amendments or House Bill No. 4479 to promote free and fair competition to promote transparency and fair pricing of electricity.

The  bill  seeks to broaden ownership base of power generation and distribution utilities, and to give electric consumers the power of choice.

HB 4479 contains all the insightful and innovative recommendations of pro-active stakeholders, both public and private, including the consumers group, to get EPIRA back on its original track and to fulfill its promise to the people of providing sufficient and reliable, but reasonably priced power, he also said.*PNA

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