Phl inventors lobby for own commission

MANILA, Philippines - The Filipino Inventors Society has initiated the filing of bills seeking to restore the Philippine Inventors Commission that was created under Republic Act 3850, as amended by Presidential Decree 1423.

House Bill 928 and Senate Bill 682 are to be sponsored by Reps. Erwin Tieng, Mike Velarde, and Lito Atienza and Sen. Loren Legarda, respectively.

The current RA 7459 only expands the scope of the Technology Application and Promotion Institute, whose special functions and duties are watered down by bureaucratic red tape.

Unlike under the PIC, tax exemption privilege lost its intent and purpose with the TAPI, the society said in a statement.

The proposed legislation envisions a Philippine Technology Economic Zone with a high-tech R&D machine shop and laboratory, R&D operating capital, material and labor incentives, as well housing infrastructure. A cash award/reward system will also be in place.

The FIS has consistently lobbied for incentives as mandated under Article XIV Sections 10 to 13, and in view of the Philippines also being signatory to the Patent Cooperation Treaty. FIS president Bormeo Modanza was chosen acting director general of the Asian Federation of Inventors Associations at a meeting in Taipei.

“In the matter of research and development (R&D) budget, the US ranks first, amounting to $405.3 billion annually or 2.7 percent of gross domestic product. Ours, ranking at bottom, is dismal at only $290 million or 0.09 percent of GDP,” Modanza said in a letter to The STAR. 

He noted that average R&D fund support ranges from 2.0 to 2.5 percent of GDP.

“Countries having this average are the most superior and progressive,” he said, adding that Filipino inventors have competitive skills at par with advanced economies.

“The difference lies in the support and patronage of our people and particularly government’s decisive fund support,” he said. Inventors have been forced to abandon their applications for patent due to “delay and expensive inaction” of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, he said.

The FIS was founded on Oct. 14, 1943 during the Japanese Occupation. It celebrated inventors’ week in mid November.