Six-month anti-piracy campaign yields P.7-B worth of fake goods 

The government is well on its way to sustaining the clampdown on the sale and distribution of counterfeit goods as the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines reported to President Arroyo that a total of more than P700 million worth of fake products has been seized in the first semester of 2006.

        In his report to the President, IP Philippines Director General Adrian S. Cristobal Jr., said that the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR) is sustaining the tempo of the government’s strengthened campaign against piracy in partnership with IP stakeholders in the private sector. 

         He reported that in coordination with the IP Philippines, IP enforcement teams from the Optical Media Board, the Bureau of Customs, National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group have confiscated a total of P752, 378, 319 worth of fake products from January to June this year. 

        The IP Philippines and the IP enforcement teams along with the Task Force on Anti-Piracy of the Department of Justice, the Supreme Court, National Telecommunications Communication, National Book Development Board and the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime makes up the NCIPR. 

        In his six-month report to Arroyo, Cristobal said that the Intellectual Property Unit of the NBI seized a total of P99, 531, 470 worth of fake products out of 268 search warrants that were secured and served. The raids led to the seizure of 106, 641 pieces of fake items. 

        On the other hand, the Anti-Fraud and Commercial Crimes Division of the PNP-CIDG confiscated a total of P37, 243, 639 worth of counterfeit products out of 121 warrants that were served. 

        Likewise, the OMB seized a total of P40, 542, 400 worth of pirated products out of 83 warrants that were served and 426 inspections that were carried out during the same period.       

        The largest haul came from the BOC, which seized a total of P575, 060, 810 worth of fake goods and has issued 12 alert hold orders against containers filled with pirated products. 

        Among the products that were confiscated during the six-month operations were fake software, electronic devices, optical discs, pharmaceutical products, clothing, footwear, perfumery, cosmetics, soap, detergents, toothpaste, food, drinks, machines and mechanical tools. 

         Cristobal is confident that with the way the government is dealing with the problem of piracy, it would surpass last year’s record haul of P1, 148, 088, 760. The enforcement teams did not only operate in malls and areas in Metro Manila that are considered “hot spots,” but also carried out raids and seizures in targeted areas in other provinces including Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Quezon, Pampanga, Bataan and Cebu. 

        In his recent meetings with officials from the US Department of Commerce and the Office of the United States Trade Representative in the US, the American officials told Cristobal that the US government has recognized the accomplishments and the great effort of the Philippine government in its efforts to address the problem of piracy in the country.

        The USTR removed the Philippines from its “Priority Watch List” during its “Out of Cycle Review” of the country in February this year and affirm its decision two months later in its regular review. 

        At a luncheon the President tendered in Malacanang for the heads of the agencies involved in the anti-piracy campaign, both from the public and private sectors, immediately after she was informed of the USTR decision, Arroyo ordered the government to further strengthen and intensify the campaign against IPR violations.  She stressed that the “fight against piracy is a fight against poverty because it enables Filipino excellence and enterprise to rise in the global arena, expanding opportunities and jobs.”       

        She also beefed up the anti-piracy units of the different agencies and ordered that an elaborate information campaign against such violations be carried out in partnership with the private sector.