P8.8 billion fake goods seized in first six months

MANILA, Philippines — The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) has seized P8.8 billion worth of counterfeit items in the first half of the year, breaching last year’s total of P8.2 billion.

Compared to the P1.4 billion worth of pirated goods confiscated in the first semester last year, IPOPHL said this year’s seizure value jumped by 530 percent.

“Surpassing the full-year, 2017 seizure is a matter of course given IPOPHL and NCIPR’s (National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights) 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,” IPOPHL director general Josephine Santiago said.

While there are economic losses, she said the public suffer the most from consumption of such products as their safety and health are compromised.

“With this substantial take, we are reasonably optimistic that our goal to surpass the record high of P13 billion worth of fake and counterfeit products in 2014 is within reach,” Santiago said.

The NCIPR is an interagency committee composed of various government agencies working together to promote, protect, and enforce IPR.

Among the NCIPR enforcement agencies, the Philippine National Police accounted for the lion’s share of the confiscated counterfeit items in the January to June period at 72 percent or P6.3 billion.

The Bureau of Customs, meanwhile, accounted for a 24 percent share or P2 billion.

The National Bureau of Investigation confiscated P266 million worth of goods and the Optical Media Board seized P103 million worth of items.

As for the type of goods seized, cigarettes and alcohol again accounted for the bulk of the total confiscations in the first semester at 78 percent or P6.8 billion.

Pharmaceutical and personal care products came in second with P1.2 billion worth of confiscated items in the first half.

At third place are fake handbags and wallets valued at P450 million.a