Two proposed legislations that seek to block online content piracy have 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 in a statement.
The industry players are calling for the prompt passage of the legislative measures that would revisit the 26-year-old Intellectual Property Code (IPC), referring to Senator Bong Revilla’s Senate Bill 2385 and Senator Jinggoy Estrada’s Senate Bill 2150. Both senators are also actors.
Both bills seek to empower the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines into dismantling access to online sites that infringe on copyrights and initiate site blocking.
Revilla’s amendment proposal to the IPC was filed on August 01, 2023, while that of Estrada was on May 9, 2023.
A counterpart bill in the House, authored by Albay Rep. Joey Salceda and integrated into House Bill 7600, has already passed the third and final reading in May last year and is now pending legislative action by Senator Villar’s committee.
As of posting time, it was reported that the trade committee had yet to conduct hearings on the two bills that seek to revise the 1997 IPC. Senator Villar was not also available for comment as relayed by his media staff.
Local celebrities recently called on Villar’s panel to speed up its legislative process on the legislations that would empower 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,” the group said.
Those advocating for support for the swift revision of the Code and empowering the IPO to combat online piracy include actors Ryan Eigenmann, Cai Cortez, and Kiray Celis; presenter and host Pia Gianio-Mago; and director-writer Fifth Solomon, among others.
These celebrities are sounding off for collective efforts in curbing online piracy and ensure that Filipino talents are being acknowledged, protected, and rewarded.
Earlier, actor John Arcilla and actress Shaina Magdayao also issued similar statements of support for the speedy amendments of the Code to enable the 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 that have limited its control over electronic and online contents within the definition of pirated goods, the industry stakeholders said.