Philippine improves in campaign vs illegal software use

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has made inroads in the campaign against the use of unlicensed software in corporate offices, ranking second out of four countries in Southeast Asia, the Software Alliance (BSA) said.

In a statement, BSA said the Philippines has given a positive response to clean up corporate offices using illegal software with the country’s results at the halfway point of the campaign, placing second to Thailand and beating Vietnam and Indonesia.

“This encouraging response is the result of both the Philippine government enforcing laws that require corporations to use only legal software, and corporate CEOs (chief executive officers) in the Philippines ensuring that their companies make comprehensive efforts to obey those laws,” BSA said.

To date, nearly 250 corporations across nine provinces in the Philippines have been involved in the software legalization process, with the majority in Metro Manila, Laguna and Cebu.

In terms of industries, BSA said most of the participating companies in the Philippines are engaged in manufacturing, engineering and industrial design.

BSA’s Legalize and Protect campaign seeks to raise awareness among CEOs of the security, legal and reputational risks associated with the use of illegal and unlicensed software.

After the end of the campaign in February next year, BSA will issue full performance reports for each participating Southeast Asian country which are intended to help respective governments plan further enforcement and educational activities to put a stop to the use of illegal software. 

“This campaign works in the Philippines because many corporations understand that software legalization is necessary, and it is better to be proactive than wait for a cybercrisis or legal consequences,” BSA senior director Tarun Sawney said.

“The Optical Media Board (OMB) also plays an important role in holding corporations accountable.  We believe that most CEOs in the Philippines are aware of their responsibility to use legal software, and we expect many more to make certain their companies do so as our campaign continues,” he added.

Headquartered in Washington, DC, BSA, which has operations in more than 60 countries, serves as the leading advocate for the global software industry by promoting legal software and pushing for policies for technology innovation and growth in the digital economy.

Earlier, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) also raised concerns on the use of unlicensed software by government offices in the Philippines.