Edu, Kuya Kim and Shaina share their thoughts on anti-piracy
MEMBERS of the entertainment industry recently engaged in a fireside chat on the crippling effects of piracy in the entertainment industry. The anti-piracy symposium was jointly organized by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), GMA Network, Inc. and Globe to address the risks associated with piracy and cybercrime.
Globe’s Chief Sustainability and Corporate Communications Officer, Yoly Crisanto, emphasized that amending the Intellectual Property Code to enable site-blocking is crucial to protect Filipino consumers and the digital ecosystem. She urged Congress to pass this legislation before the current session ends.
The likes of TV host Kuya Kim Atienza, actress Shaina Magdayao and actor Edu Manzano sat down with moderator Pia Guanio and talked about piracy.
Edu experienced actual enforcement when he took on the task of being the first chairman of the Optical Media Board (OMB) from 2004 to 2010.
“We could not find work for many people in the industry,” Edu lamented. “We saw the direct effect. To this day, I can say the industry has not recovered.”
Today, there is an average only 30 films produced per year, compared to 200 before. Nearly 9,000 workers in showbiz lost their jobs.
“At that time, we were always talking about the physical product, which were the CDs and DVDs,” Edu shared. “It was just a matter of time before we realized the law then was ineffective and had too many flaws.
“With the way it is going, we have to pressure like-minded members of the House of Representatives and the Senate that the laws previously passed become flawed because technology advances at an amazing pace.
“What used to come into the country were the huge replicating machines, which costs about P20 million each. It could produce 1 million CDs a day. That became a vicious cycle.
“At that time, we were working closely with the Motion Picture Association of America, the business software alliance and recording companies.
“From London, the Motion Picture Association of America brought in polycarbonate-sniffing dogs and they could smell through walls, including the pirates. (Smiled). They can smell through food and under extreme heat conditions. The dogs were very, very effective.
“When it came to the replicating machines, we tried to take out as much as we could. Then we saw the USBs or the hard drives, any piece that could hold audio and video storage point.
“We were very fortunate because the Supreme Court, at that time, allowed us to address the problem of media piracy. I had to admit a lot of our raids turned out to be successful.”
Kuya Kim pointed out the fake CDs and DVDs proliferated then in places like Harrison Plaza, Greenhills, Makati Cinema Square.
“I remember Edu and his OMB team were destroying thousands of CDs outside through a bulldozer or a pison. But now, you don’t even have to shell money to watch pirated materials. It’s free.
“Everything comes with a mere click of a button. But what you get is bad quality material. There are illegal streaming sites. How do they make money? There are advertisements from porn and other digital sites. Scamming is becoming more and more rampant.”
Then, only those who could afford the replicating machines could become a pirate. Today, however, anybody who has a tablet or a desk top can replicate videos.
In 2022, P781 million were lost due to online video piracy. In 2018, there was 47 percent decline in box office sales. The figures became alarming.
“Filipinos, kaya natin to make it in the international scene,” said Shaina. “We just need opportunities, the right vehicles, the right projects. But at the end of the day, for us workers and actors, show business is business.
“If there is no return of investment to producers, they will not be investing in our work or our talent anymore. They will not be encouraged to train emerging filmmakers to put up production houses who can make films.”
Shaina pointed out it is actually cheaper to film in the Philippines. “I always say that,” she insisted. “We have beautiful locations. But how is that even going to happen if there will be no producer who will invest?
“We are faced with that problem at the end of the day. If we don’t have the budget, there will be no output and that limits the Filipinos to reach the global cinema, the global stage, na kayang kaya naman natin.”
Shaina grew up in the industry that has admittedly given her a good life. “Sanay ako sa laban na ‘to,” the actress said. “Our dream is to give good and decent jobs to Filipinos, but the industry is laden with a lot of problems.
“As an artist, director, storyteller, a writer, an editor, sound engineer or mixer, you were doing ways to improve your craft. But nothing in life is free.
“Are you willing to work without getting proper compensation? Will you get inspired to put your work out there without being supported? I guess it’s a sad fact that I am one of the few who grew up in this industry?
“The landscape has changed. Viewing habits have changed. They are not even watching free TV anymore. They are not accessing our work anymore. With people realizing, they are actually contributing to the death of this industry.”
In 2018, the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) posted a gross revenue of P1.6 billion. In 2019, the earnings were P995 million. But in 2020, the earnings were down to P30 million.
Edu, who was also the president of the Actor’s Guild for four years with registered members of 12,000, shared the local cinema was producing more than 250 films a year. There is a different picture of Philippine cinema.
“Sometimes, we had three Filipino films every Wednesday competing against each other,” Edu recalled. “There were also foreign films competing in the same play date. Today, there are 30 films produced a year and the qualities of some were even pito-pito made in only seven days. We saw each and everyone of us in this room helps promote the awareness of how important it is to solve this piracy issue in this industry.”
