Gov’t lost P42.5 B to video pirates, says Palawan solon

Video pirates are raking so much profit, depriving the government of P42.5 billion in revenues in the past 20 months, an opposition lawmaker claimed yesterday.

Citing records from the Video Regulatory Board (VRB), Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra said from January 2002 to August this year, the agency seized a total of 8,457,692 pirated video compact discs (VCD) and digital video discs (DVD).

Almost 4.8 million pieces of counterfeit video discs were seized in raids on street vendors, including licensed video shops, by the VRB during the 20-month period.

The record also showed the VRB, headed by actor Ramon Revilla Jr., confiscated 16 units of "optical disc lines" or fast video-replicating machines and 215 units of CD burners and writers.

"These figures just show that video piracy is a growth industry in the country, firms that illegally replicate films are themselves replicating fast," Mitra said.

"But the real story here is not the number of discs the undermanned VRB was able to seize, but the number of discs that made its way to the market," he said.

He said that for every one VCD or DVD confiscated, a hundred will still be peddled on the streets.

Based on the volume of confiscations, Mitra said roughly 850 million discs were either sold or still being peddled in the market, at an average of 10 discs per Filipino.

At an average of P50 per VCD sold, Mitra calculated video pirates have grossed P42.5 billion in profits. "These guys (video pirates) can be at the top 100 corporations in the Philippines," he said.

Mitra said market forces, not the "daily raids made by the brave men of the VRB," would stem the flood of fake video discs.

If the prices of original VCDs and DVDs would go down the same level as pirated discs, video pirates will be out of business, Mitra said.

Meanwhile, Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya, chairman of the House appropriations committee, warned government agencies from holding seminars and meetings at expensive hotels and resorts.

Whenever possible, Andaya said government seminars and meetings should be held in government-owned facilities.