PCC is the Philippine Competition Commission and it is the body that looks into corporate mergers to make sure there is no monopoly, anti-trust issues or some form of hanky-panky involved in the deal. From the name, we can gather that the commission is in charge of making sure that the competition among businesses in any given industry remains fair, especially after a huge merger like that of Grab and Uber.

Philippine Competition Commission Chairman Arsenio Balisacan says they have to review the Grab-Uber merger deal before it can be consummated.

So, the PCC just decided to step into the biggest commuter based news of this week and declared that it may not allow the Uber-Grab merger if the transaction values is smaller than what was set under the anti-trust regulations.

In an interview over ABS-CBN, PCC Chairman Arsenio Balisacan said that if the Grab-Uber deal meets the thresholds set by his agency for mandatory notification, the PCC may not allow the deal to push through until they have reviewed the details of the transaction.

Thresholds are set at P2 billion in transaction value and P5 billion for the value of either party, and the review is set at a maximum of 30 days. Grab’s acquisition of Uber’s Southeast Asia business has been described as the largest of its kind in the region.

“We have to establish an analysis that transaction could lead to lessening of competition, if that’s the case and we tell the parties that information and if they don’t address concerns to our satisfaction, we will disallow the transaction,” Balisacan said.

He said the PCC is looking at the Grab-Uber deal very closely for possible anti-competitive effects, and will not hesitate to protect consumers. The meeting with Grab, Uber and the PCC is scheduled on Monday, April 2 2018.