MANILA -- The National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR) has confiscated some PHP8.8-billion worth of pirated and counterfeit goods from January to June 2018.
The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), which is the vice chair of NCIPR, reported Thursday that the value of seized goods in the first semester (H1) of the year rose 530 percent from PHP1.4 billion in the first half of 2017.
The bulk of the confiscated goods during this period consisted of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages amounting to PHP6.8 billion, followed by pharmaceutical and personal care products reaching PHP1.2 billion, while fake handbags and wallets accounted for PHP450 million.
The value of seized goods in H1 2018 is also higher than the total value of contraband products confiscated in the whole of 2017, which amounted to only PHP8.2 billion.
“Surpassing the full-year 2017 seizure is a matter of course, given IPOPHL and NCIPR’s intensified campaign to curb the spread of fake goods since the beginning of the year. Any form of piracy is damaging, not only to the local economy but also to the industries we cultivate, as well as the investors with valuable intellectual property, and the government, which loses revenue with these fake goods,” said Director General Josephine Santiago.
“Moreover, while economic losses are sustained with these kinds of goods, the victims who would stand to suffer the most from this illicit trade are the public, as these counterfeiters and pirates ultimately compromise health and safety, not to mention cost people their jobs,” Santiago added.
The NCIPR is composed of IPOPHL, Department of Trade and Industry, Bureau of Customs, National Bureau of Investigation, Optical Media Board, Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of Justice, Food and Drug Administration, National Book Development Board, Office of the Special Envoy for Transnational Crime, National Telecommunications Commission, and Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Among the enforcement agencies, the PNP confiscated the largest value of fake products amounting to PHP6.3 billion. BOC seized some PHP2 billion worth of counterfeit products; NBI, PHP266 million; and OMB, PHP103 million.
“With this PHP8.8 billion seizure, we hope to make a dent on their sources of income and drive home the message to counterfeiters, dealers, and all those involved in pirated-goods trade that we continue to have a zero-tolerance policy on piracy and counterfeiting,” the IPOPHL chief said.
“With this substantial take, we are reasonably optimistic that our goal to surpass the record high of 2014 of P13-billion worth of fake and counterfeit products is within reach,” Santiago added. (PNA)
