Overview

We all know that media piracy is a sin against the Seventh Commandment by violating intellectual property license agreements and never giving compensation to the copyright owners for use of media licenses. We have at least three Republic Acts (8293, 9239, and 10372), signed four international treaties (Berne, UCC-Geneva, TRIPS, WCT), and utilized a complete task force focusing on the protection of intellectual property in the Philippines. However, despite all this, media piracy is still the norm in the Philippines (pirated DVDs, music, and video games are still sold in some public markets and shopping malls and many sidewalk stalls in the country) because of these factors:

• Our propensity to acquire everything we want at the lowest possible cost.
• The product being pirated is either currently unavailable for direct local purchase (apart from free-to-air and cable television) or streaming, or if it is available, can be found in a very small quantity or in places like Metro Manila, Cebu City, Davao City, and special economic zones.
  • At the time of this writing, the PlayStation Network, Netflix and Hulu aren’t officially available yet in the Philippines.
  • The Philippines’ DVD region code (3) is different from Japan (2) and the United States (1). But all three countries have the same Blu-ray region code (A).
• In the case of many foreign movies, musical recordings, video games, and TV shows, those things are mainly intended only for the countries where those media are produced, but there will always be a sizable amount of fans outside those countries who genuinely enjoy them. However, there is no convenient way for fans to buy validly-licensed copies of those stuff (apart from online shopping and going to the country of origin) even though English localisations may exist, but not always in the same quality that the fans expect.
• Familiarity with the product, in case of software.
  • Most of our countrymen are used to Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, and Adobe Photoshop in that they would rather find pirated copies than look for free alternatives, because they are naturally unfamiliar with the latter.
  • However, to be fair, some proprietary computer applications are not yet perfectly compatible with their free-and-open-source counterparts.

What If You Got Caught Using Pirated Stuff?

• If you admit to using pirated software at a well-reputed tech forum, let alone one about video games, chances are that you will be banned there (proofs here, here, here, and here) and be humiliated. A similar thing happens when you are caught having pirated games in your consoles (proof here).
• If you are the owner of a software store and the Pilipinas Anti Piracy Team discovered that you installed pirated software in the computers that you will sell, you may also be punished with a Hold Departure Order, tax investigation and tax evasion charges, and business permit cancellation, all while awaiting trial for your crimes.
• For every violation of RA 8293 you will be penalized with a maximum of five years in prison and a ₱200,000 fine.

The Current Alternatives

Waiting for an Unexpected Number of Days

…before your favorite TV series (or a particular episode thereof), or movies starts airing, even if you have a cable subscription. Same goes with your favorite songs on the radio. You would have to check the local TV schedule every week to find which of your favorite movies will be aired a few days from now.

Online Shopping

Even if you buy the products you want from authorised resellers, you still have to pay customs fees when the goods are shipped to your doorstep, whether you use a credit card or cash-on-delivery.

Going to the Country of Origin

If the product in question is unavailable for sale online, you would have to pay for a visa/passport fee, travel expenses, and lodging to the country.

But Wait! The Root Cause of Media Piracy is…

Faulty economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution that require 60% or more of all resources for a Filipino-owned company to be managed by Filipinos. But how many Filipino media companies have resources as vast as those of Microsoft, Adobe, Toei, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Konami, Square Enix, or even Gaumont? How many Filipino software companies right now can make more affordable alternatives to Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, and Adobe Creative Cloud?

Alright, Here’s the Most Effective Solution.

Economic Liberalisation. Specifically, allowing full foreign equity ownership of companies established on Philippine territory. Allow me to state some clarifications:

• Filipino citizens still maintain the right to establish and own companies.
• Filipinos will never be looked down by other ethnicities and nationalities. Foreigners would instead see how the Filipino civilisation has improved!
• A portion of Philippine territory in which a building owned by a foreign company stands is never automatically “annexed” by the home country of the foreign company.
• If there are more jobs available in the country, many of our countrymen would not need to go abroad.

Having foreign media companies setting up shop in the country can provide Filipino citizens with easier access to and more affordable prices of the companies’ products, even those never released yet in the Philippine market. It’s more of a supply-and-demand thing (for example, high demand for a Japanese or American video game should inspire more copies of the product to be produced) rather than that “anything produced by a foreign company is automatically an import” mentality.