PRESS RELEASE 2019-023
20 December 2019

PCC partners with PAEF for Fulbright academic, educational exchange

The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) signed on Friday a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Philippine-American Educational Foundation (PAEF), agreeing to cooperate on academic exchanges and training programs, as the antitrust authority strengthens its institutional capacity.

The cooperation framework paves the way for a broad partnership between the competition authority and PAEF, the institution administering the Fulbright scholarship in the Philippines. This partnership includes providing technical expertise on furthering academic and professional development in the US, as well as research collaborations in the area of competition.

The signing of the MoU was led by PCC Chairperson Arsenio M. Balisacan and US Ambassador Sung Y. Kim, PAEF’s Honorary Chairperson.

“In its 70 years of enabling educational exchange between the Philippines and the United States, PAEF has produced a roster of alumni that have become captains of industry, national artists and scientists, and leaders in their fields. This makes PAEF a valuable partner for PCC as we aim to grow experts and specialists in competition law and policy in the country,” said PCC Chair Balisacan.

“With the Philippine Competition Act modeled in part after US antitrust legislation, PAEF will be a strategic partner to help us build the competencies needed to effectively implement the law,” Chair Balisacan added.

The framework agreement is a prelude to an implementing agreement that will operationalize PCC’s “Capacity Building to Foster Competition” project in the first quarter of 2020.

In particular, PAEF will provide assistance in two key objectives of the project: 1) administering a government staff development program offering degree and non-degree scholarships to PCC and its partner agencies—Department of Justice-Office for Competition, Office of the Solicitor General, and National Economic and Development Authority; and 2) nurturing the establishment of an academic center of excellence in competition law and policy with the University of the Philippines College of Law.

PAEF was established under a binational agreement between the Philippines and the US, and is considered the oldest international educational exchange program in the Philippines. Since 1948, PAEF has awarded Fulbright grants to nearly 3,000 Filipinos and close to 1,000 Americans to study, teach, lecture, and conduct research in the US and the Philippines.