PRESS RELEASE
4 September 2023

San Sebastian College-Recoletos wins 1st PH Moot Court Competition on Competition Law

A team of law students from the San Sebastian College-Recoletos bagged the championship in the first Philippine Moot Court Competition on Competition Law held last July 21 in Quezon City.

The first moot court competition, co-organized by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) and the Legal Education Board (LEB), brought together young legal talents from some of the country’s top law schools.

The winning team from San Sebastian College-Recoletos was composed of Haidee Amabel Uy, Darius Vien Darunday, Abram Andrew Lumbang, and Chrysill Ariza Valencia, with lawyer Gerlyn Fe Oyos as coach. Uy was awarded best speaker.

PCC Chairperson Michael Aguinaldo led the final round’s panel of judges, along with LEB Chairperson Anna Marie Melanie Trinidad, former PCC Commissioner and former LEB Chairperson Emerson Aquende, former Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) Chairperson and former Ateneo Law School Dean Cesar Villanueva, and international competition law experts Eric Edmondson of the US Federal Trade Commission and Marc Waha of the Norton Rose Fulbright law firm.

“The moot court competition is one of the PCC’s strategies to raise awareness of competition policy and law among our stakeholders,” Chairperson Aguinaldo said.

Enacted into law in 2015, the Philippine Competition Act (PCA) is the country’s first comprehensive antitrust law. It prohibits anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominance, and anti-competitive mergers and acquisitions.

For the first moot court competition, the students made appellate arguments in a hypothetical case that involved anti-competitive agreement and abuse of dominance in the solar energy industry.

“Future lawyers who will have immersed themselves in this unique expertise will soon be at the forefront of its practice,” LEB Chairperson Trinidad said.

Team San Sebastian College-Recoletos triumphed over 15 other schools in the simulated appellate proceedings. Mooters from San Beda College-Alabang and Aurora State College of Technology bagged the first runner up and second runner up, respectively.

Other top law schools that joined the PCC and LEB’s maiden moot court competition included Ateneo de Zamboanga University, Bukidnon State University, University of the Cordilleras, University of Mindanao, Far Eastern University, Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan, De La Salle University, Universidad de Manila, University of Makati, Rizal Memorial Colleges, Saint Louis University, New Era University, and Central Philippine University.

The San Sebastian College-Recoletos, San Beda College-Alabang, Aurora State College of Technology, and Saint Louis University squared off in the semifinal round, with San Sebastian College-Recoletos and San Beda College-Alabang advancing to the finals.

PCC Commissioner Marah Victoria Querol and PCC Enforcement Office Director Christian Loren De Los Santos adjudicated the semifinal round. They were joined by LEB Commissioners Josefe Sorrera-Ty and Lorenzo Reyes, Aquende and lawyer Allesandra Fay Albarico.

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REFERENCE: 
publicaffairs@phcc.gov.ph 
PCC Public Affairs and Research Division

Link: https://www.phcc.gov.ph/press-releases/san-sebastian-college-recoletos-wins-1st-ph-moot-court-competition-on-competition-law/