OMB seizes P.6-million pirated DVDs, copy machines

MANILA, Philippines - The Optical Media Board seized more than P600,000 worth of replicating machines and pirated digital video discs (DVDs) from a building in Quiapo’s Islamic Center Thursday.

OMB Enforcement and Operation head Manuel Mangubat said the confiscated items included 23 duplicating machines, 41 DVD writers, five spools of empty rewritable disks and 65 pieces of finished products, mostly pirated movies.

Mangubat said these items were seized from stalls and rooms at the Santos Building located along Arlegui Street during a raid Thursday.

According to Mangubat, each duplicating machine costs P25,000 while a DVD writer costs P2,250. Each duplicating machine can copy 12 movies in one minute, he noted.

Mangubat said the total cost of the seized machines, materials and products is P679,500.

“The raid was an offshoot of four days of surveillance by civilian agents and OMB personnel,” Mangubat said in an interview.

The OMB official said the four-story building had stalls selling copies of pirated movies at the ground floor and rooms housing the replicating machines upstairs.

Mangubat said the third and fourth floors of the building had rooms that seemed like residential units, where the films were being copied.

He said no one was arrested during the raid and the owner of the building has yet to be identified. – Reinir Padua