PRA: Policing piracy is not our job

Despite their active stance against piracy, the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) said it is not their job to police its members involved in selling pirated or counterfeit goods.

PRA president Jorge Mendiola made this formal announcement amid the call from Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) advocates for a total cleanup of the country from piracy and for it to be removed from the hot list of the world’s top patrons of bogus products.

“It’s the job of the government to police them [retailers], not us,” Mendiola said adding that the advocacy of IPR is beyond PRA’s control.

He said there is a very thin line on IPR issues in the Philippines and running after retailers that are engaged in these activities must be a government-led action, not coming from the private group, such as PRA.

Although in the past there was an attempt from PRA to call on its members all over the Philippines to be responsible enough in upholding the laws on piracy, he reiterated that this unresolved problem is beyond the association’s control.

Officers from the PRA in the past few years had been calling on mall owners to strictly check on their tenants’ product inventories whether they have been involved in selling counterfeit goods.

Four years ago, a model-ordinance was presented to Local Government Units (LGUs) including Cebu City, which stated that all business licenses and permits issued by the City (or Municipality) shall carry the express condition that the licensee shall not engage in the selling or in any form of disposal of pirated goods within its premises.

According to the IP Coalition, only eight LGUs across the Philippines have adopted this ordinance so far.

In an earlier interview with IP Coalition secretary general Numeriano F. Rodriguez Jr., he said that there is a need for LGUs around the country to adopt their anti-piracy ordinance, in order to closely monitor the existence of retailers selling illegally-made products.

Consumers on the other hand, should also be made aware of the consequences in buying pirated, fake, and counterfeit products, so that patronage will be minimized.

According to IP Coalition, the piracy problem in the Philippines has however improved last year by only two percent. Although this is not a significant improvement, Rodriguez said there is still hope for the Philippines to become a piracy-free country, specifically if consumers and concerned government agencies will cooperate closely, together with IPR advocates.