MANILA - The Philippine government's top lawyer has asked the appellate court to render the P70-billion deal between the country's biggest telecommunication firms as void due to the lack of proper notification.

In a comment filed before the Court of Appeals, the Solicitor General, which represented the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), said due to the "absence of a valid notification," the acquisition of San Miguel Corp.’s telecommunications assets by Globe Telecom and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) is considered void and the telcos should be penalized.

The SolGen said the administrative penalties may be imposed by the PCC under the Philippine Competition Act for "illegal consummation."

"The parties are liable for an administrative fine of 1 percent to 5 percent of the value of the transaction," it said.

"It is as if [the acquisition] has never been entered into and it cannot be validated either by the passage of time or by ratification. The parties, therefore, must not only cease and desist from further implementing the void transaction, but more importantly, they must undo all acts consummated pursuant thereto and bring the situation back to its status prior to the execution of the subject acquisition," it added.

The PCC earlier asked the Court of Appeals to allow the anti-trust watchdog review the multibillion-peso deal.

• READ: Anti-trust watchdog seeks resumption of PLDT-Globe review

The court had sided with Globe and PLDT, who said their acquisition of San Miguel Corp.’s telco assets was “deemed approved” after it notified the PCC of the transaction.