SPECIAL FEATURE

by: Carla Andaya

Philippines is known to be one of the countries who makes good and high class movies. That’s why some of the Filipinos are very fanatic and willing to pay for it. But due to the fact that it’s expensive and most of them cannot afford it by these days, they’ll just buy pirated CD’s and DVD’s.

To stop the increasing pirated CD’s and DVD’s who kills our movie industry, The OMB or the Optical Media Board takes charge of it. Formerly known as VRB, The OMB was created under the Presidential Degree No. 1987 last July 28, 1993.

OMB shall cover the entire territory of the Republic of the Philippines. It is composed of (4) ex officio members: The Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry, The Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, The Secretary of the Department of Finance, Director-General of the Intellectual Property Office or their duly representatives. Aside from those, OMB is composed of (5) regular members to be appointed by the President. Three of them should be from the private sector, one from the consumer and the other one from the academe. From these five regular members, one will be chosen by the President as the Chairman of the Board.

OMB is responsible for regulating the manufacture, mastering, replication, importation and exportation of Optical Media. They are also responsible in formulating and implementing policies and programs, evaluating classifications of individual and establishments in manufacturing Optical Media, licensing and registration, suspension of licenses and giving penalties for offenses in manufacturing and distributing pirated CD’s and DVD’s.