The chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Win Gatchalian, has backed the abolition of the Optical Media Board (OMB), as its mandate is deemed unnecessary.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, during the budget deliberation for the Office of the President on Tuesday afternoon, said he supports phasing out the operations of the Optical Media Board, citing the obsolescence of the industry it was originally tasked to regulate.

Gatchalian said there is a need to study whether allocating P66 million for the OMB is worth it, amid its poor performance.

He said he is also willing to make a recommendation to the Executive Department regarding the transition of the operations of the OMB to another agency, such as the Film Development Council, to ensure that its employees are not displaced by the agency’s eventual abolition.

“The times today have rendered the OMB totally obsolete. People do not watch CDs anymore. Lahat ay live streaming platforms na. We just have to find the proper transition for the employees,” Gatchalian said.

“We can provide the agency with a winding-down budget good for 3 to 6 months, and then we can put that budget to another agency that has a similar function,” he added.

The OMB's tasks include licensing and registering legal optical media businesses, as well as investigating and cracking down on illegal operations.

On its website, it said that the OMB is mandated to implement the Optical Media Act of 2003 (Republic Act No. 9239) and continues its strong commitment to the protection and promotion of intellectual property rights through the exercise of its regulatory, enforcement, and quasi-judicial functions.