P200-million equipment for pirated DVDs seized

MANILA, Philippines – What started as mere inspection of a warehouse in Pampanga by the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) led to the discovery and seizure of some P200 million worth of DVD-replicating machines used in movie piracy, officials reported yesterday.

PASG chief Undersecretary Antonio Villar said the team he sent last weekend to verify the reported presence of smuggled machineries in a warehouse in Barangay Pandan in Angeles City nearly went home empty-handed as the warehouse showed no traces of business activity.

There were no machineries inside and the overseer, identified as Chinese national Guang Hui Cai, “was very hospitable and even offered to guide members of the PASG-NBI-SOG (National Bureau of Investigation-Special Operations Group) team in the inspection on the strength of a mission order signed by Villar,” the agency said in a statement.

But lawyer Edmund Arugay, PASG-NBI-SOG director and NBI deputy director, said his team received a call from an informant during the inspection telling them that a discreet entrance hidden behind a wooden wall would lead them to a room where fake DVDs were being manufactured.

“The tip turned out to be well worth it as the hidden room awed the PASG-NBI-SOG operatives because of the presence of high-tech replicating equipment that could easily churn out thousands of fake DVDs in just two hours,” the PASG said.

After the discovery, Guang was asked to produce the necessary documents for the equipment but failed, prompting an invitation for investigation.

He later identified a certain Helen Lee alias Sherley Chua, and Gilbert Lee alias Gilbert Chua as the ones maintaining the warehouse.

Villar has coordinated with the Optical and Media Board chaired by Edu Manzano for the OMB’s eventual takeover of the case and custody of all the equipment and fake DVDs seized during the raid.