Philippines - Manila red-faced as official seen buying pirated DVDs

In an embarrassing setback to the Philippine government's anti-piracy effort, President Benigno Aquino's political adviser was caught on camera shopping for illegally copied films in a mall here.

A photograph of Ronald Llamas browsing through a box of pirated DVDs was published on the front page of the Philippine Daily Inquirer yesterday.

A journalist from one of the Inquirer's sister newspapers spotted Llamas - accompanied by his bodyguards - buying a 'stack' of DVDs from a stall holder at the Circle C mall in the Quezon City area of Manila on Monday night.

Aquino downplayed the incident. He told TV5 while visiting flood victims in the south yesterday that DVD piracy is not a high priority. "We have so many other problems," he said.

But he added: "I will ask him first what he was doing there. There is a process and we have rules and regulations to follow."

Llamas - who reportedly spent nearly 2,000 pesos (US$46) on the DVDs - has not publicly commented on the case.

Buying pirated DVDs for personal consumption is not illegal in the Philippines.

"It's only illegal when possession comes with a commercial intent," said the Optical Media Board's (OMB) head of legal affairs, Victor Padilla.

The penalty for that is up to 90 days in jail and a maximum fine of 50,000 pesos ($1,200).

The loophole for possessing pirated discs has helped to create a vast market for ripped-off movies and music. Such discs are sold openly in malls and markets - usually those that have seen better days.

High-quality knockoffs - some costing just 30 pesos - of the latest films from Hollywood are available just days after they hit movie theatres here.

Padilla said the OMB is stepping up pressure on mall owners to ban the sale of pirated goods on their premises and leaning on the authorities to enforce the law.

The board conceded that Llamas - who also heads a political party in the ruling coalition - was not breaking the law.

But its chairman Ronnie Ricketts, an action movie star, told reporters that officials should set an example because the country is striving to get off a piracy watch list of 29 countries maintained by the United States. Between 2001 and 2005, the Philippines was on the Office of the US Trade Representative's (USTR) priority watch list, which now comprises 12 countries including China, Thailand and Indonesia.

The Philippines is now viewed as a lesser transgressor after efforts by the OMB and law enforcement agencies to crack down on intellectual copyright infringements through - among other measures - raids on malls. In one raid last week, 22 million pesos ($509,000) worth of pirated films and computer software were seized from Makati Cinema Square, a notorious bazaar known for knockoffs in Manila.

In its report for last year issued in September, the USTR praised the Philippines for enacting legislation to address illegal video-recording in cinemas. Nowadays, cinema staff patrol screenings when Hollywood blockbusters are released.

But the USTR voiced concern over the 'very few' cases of intellectual copyright infringement that have been successfully prosecuted over the past decade, which it blamed on an 'inefficient' judiciary.

Alastair McIndoe

The Straits Times

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