Pirated DVDs, VCDs seized

Agents of the Optical Media Board in coordination with the Police Regional Office-7 and the Cebu City Police Office raided several stalls selling pirated DVDs and VCDs in the uptown area yesterday morning.

The operatives, composed of seven teams, raided the stalls in the different establishments along Osmeña Boulevard and Mango Avenue and seized 245 sacks containing 73,500 DVDs, VCDs as well as software and installers estimated at P17.5 million in all.

Manny Mangubat of the OMB said that they arrived here in Cebu city last Monday morning and immediately conducted a surveillance after their head office in Manila received information on the rampant sale and distribution of pirated DVDs and VCDs here.

He also said this was the second time they conducted an operation here, the first was in September 2005 where they were able to confiscate two truckloads of pirated CDs.

No one was arrested as the owners of the pirated items allegedly fled, leaving their shopkeepers behind.

Mangubat said the owners of the CDs will face six to nine months in jail with a penalty of P25,000 if arrested and convicted. -Flor Z. Perolina/BRP