Gera na 'to!

Taken from INQ7. net , Jul. 21, 2004:

The VRB (Videogram Regulatory Board) citation notwithstanding, the Philippines was still included in the IIPA's 2004 "priority watch list" of the world's worst violators of intellectual property rights.

Aside from the Philippines, 16 other nations made it to the list: Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Poland, Russian Federation, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

Pirated products in many formats are available virtually everywhere," including the video piracy "hotspots" (Quiapo in Manila, Greenhills in San Juan, ABC Mall in Makati City, and Cubao in Quezon City), it said.

From abs-cbnnews.com November 23, 2004:

OMB chairman Eduardo Manzano said in a press conference on Monday that, “Delisting is a tall order. Our priority right now is to remove the country from the priority watchlist of the United States.”

She added that the video sector such as VCDs and DVDs are expected to post the biggest losses with estimates of P4.9 billion; followed by the movie industry with P3 billion in losses; and the music industry with P1.9 billion.


The Philippines ranked fifth in terms of piracy rates last year, or at 89 percent after the 100 percent of Vietnam, 95 percent of Pakistan, 95 percent of China and 92 percent of Indonesia.


To show the impact of piracy in the industry, executive director Eduardo Sazon of the Association of Video Distributors of the Philippines said the number of movies went down to 50 from as many as 200 movies per year, and the price of movie tickets almost quadrupled to P75 from P20 in 1997