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Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Senator tells anti-video piracy chief to improve performance
"DO YOUR job in one month or else."
Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr., chairman of the Senate committee on mass media, issued the warning as he said he would recommend the replacement of Optical Media Board chairman Edu Manzano if he fails to crack down on pirated compact discs (CDs) and digital video disc (VCDs) of foreign and local movies and songs in the country.
Revilla said now that Congress has approved the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the OMB, Manzano has no reason not to strictly implement the law.
"Siguro wala na silang masasabi na kaya hindi sila makakilos ng maayos kasi wala silang IRR, ngayon nasa kanila na ang bola so gawin nila ang trabaho nila (They cannot anymore say they cannot do anything because they do not have an IRR, now the ball is in their court so they should do their job)," Revilla said.
Earlier, Revilla, a former Videogram Regulatory Board, said he was not satisfied with the way Manzano is handling the OMB, especially in the campaign against pirated CDs and VCDs.
Manzano blamed the absence of the OMB's IRR for its poor performance the previous year saying it hampered their efforts against piracy as they lacked the full legal authority to implement their mandate.
The Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the OMB, chaired by Revilla and Representative Junie Cua passed the IRR recently.
It is expected to boost government's efforts in the protection of intellectual property rights as it vests full authority on the OMB to conduct operations, seizures and pursue criminal action against syndicates.
"With the approval of the IRR, both the Senate and the House hope that OMB's performance would significantly improve," he added.
The eradication of piracy would translate to at least P50 billion in additional revenues for the government, the neophyte senator said. (JPM)
(February 2, 2005 issue)
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