‘Inaction’ on online content piracy blocking lamented

Stakeholders of the Creative Industry has lamented the alleged inaction of a lawmaker over the two proposed legislations which seek to block online content piracy, saying that the measures are still not processed.

The group said that the legislations reportedly remained untouched and unheard at Senator Mark Villar’s trade and industry committee.

“No legislative action. Not even the first committee hearing was conducted on those Senate bills since they were filed several months ago, and even a similar bill in the House was already approved on final reading almost a year ago,” said the stakeholders of the Creative Industry.

Industry players who are calling for the prompt passage of two legislative measures that would revisit the 26-year old Intellectual Property Code were referring to Senator Bong Revilla’s Senate Bill 2385 and Senator Jinggoy Estrada’s Senate Bill 2150.

Both legislations seek to empower the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines into dismantling access to online sites which infringes copyrights and initiate site blocking, as well.

Revilla’s amendment proposal to the IPC was filed on 1 August 2023, while that of Estrada was on 9 May 2023.

A counterpart bill in the House, which was authored by Albay Representative Joey Salceda and was integrated into House Bill 7600, has already passed the third and final reading in May last year, and is now pending legislative action by Villar’s committee on trade and industry.

It was reported that the senator’s panel has yet to conduct hearings on the two bills which seek to revise the 1997 IPC and was not also available for comment as relayed by his media staff.

Famed celebrities have recently called on Villar’s trade and industry panel to speed up its legislative process on the two Senate legislation which aimed at empowering the IPO to enable online site blocking.

“The inaction of the Senate trade and industry committee to facilitate the swift passage of Senate Bills 2150 and 2385 hinders the role of the creative industry in helping the country’s economic growth under the Creative Industry Act which was passed in 2023,” said the celebrities.

Those who are advocating for support to the swift revision of the aged Code and empowering the IPO to combat the prevalence of online piracy include actors Ryan Eigenmann, Cai Cortez, and Kiray Celis; presenter and host Pia Gianio-Mago; and director-writer Fifth Solomon, among others.

The celebrities are sounding off their call for collective efforts in curving online piracy and ensure that Filipino talents are being acknowledged, protected and rewarded.

Earlier, actor John Arcilla and actress Shaina Magdayao have also issued similar statement of support for the speedy amendments of the Code to enable online site blocking of pirated contents.

If passed by Congress, Senate Bills 2150 and 2385 will update and strengthen the old IPC and enhanced the enforcement capabilities of the IPO against online piracy.

The amended Code will also remove provisions which have limited its control over electronic and online contents within the definition of pirated goods.