OMB foils attempt to pirate MMFF entries

Now that Metro Manila has been declared piracy-free for the duration of the just-concluded Metro Manila Filmfest (MMFF), pirates have not given up efforts to replicate MMFF entries, this time for those who want to watch them in the provinces.

This agents of the Optical Media Board (OMB), led by a 20-member all Muslim Task Force, found out recently. Acting on a tip from the Task Force, headed by Yassin Ebrahim, OMB agents caught Alvin Tajar filming the MMFF entry Enteng Kabisote 4 using an MP4 device, 30 minutes into the showing of the said comedy.

The recent incident of flicker piracy (using a cellphone camera recorder for filming) happened in a giant mall a day after Christmas last year. Alvin was brought to the mall’s security office before he was escorted to a nearby police station.

Two days before the incident, OMB agents seized nine stampers containing 20 boxes of DVD-Rs (DVD recorders) to be used to replicate Metro Filmfest entries at the parking area of Star City. The boxes, containing 20 pieces of DVD-Rs each (for a total of 40,000 pieces), had a list of the filmfest entries attached on its upper flap, and the names of persons they will be given to.

These persons — some already familiar to OMB agents as suspected film pirates — are now under surveillance.

The boxes, OMB agents learned, were earmarked for shipment to the provinces.

OMB chair Edu Manzano related these developments in a press conference the other day. With him was OMB executive director, lawyer Rosendo Meneses, who said that their agency’s next target is for zero piracy of filmfest entries in the provinces. The job, he adds, is far from easy. For one, the provinces cover a bigger scope, and its key cities are located far away from each other.

That’s why OMB plans to intensify its efforts in the provinces. At present, there is one OMB operator stationed in each key provincial city. There are now 15 operators assigned in the provinces and working on a shoestring budget after a move in the Senate to increase the OMB budget from the current P25-M to P35-M failed.

Thus, Edu says OMB is making do with the limited resources it has to work as effectively as possible.

The problem is magnified by incidents when even professional cameramen are caught flat-footed committing acts of piracy. Edu reports that their services are hired by pirates out to make a fast buck by robbing the film industry of millions in revenues.

He is heartened by the fact that a group of Muslims headed by Ebrahim has approached him to volunteer its services in fighting piracy. These Muslims are now part of a Task Force that polices even fellow Muslims caught violating the anti-piracy law.

The Muslims, based in Quiapo, are bent on convincing others that not everyone of their kind are film pirates. It may expose them to physical dangers, Ebrahim admits. And they are not taking safety measures so far. But they vow to continue their efforts, even now that the MMFF has wrapped up.

It is the third year in a row that the MMFF has been declared piracy-free. Edu, commenting on a recent survey showing that OMB is one of the government’s top-performing offices, says, “We’re just doing our job.”

He has vowed to continue being vigilant in fighting piracy even harder, now that pirates have resorted to flicker piracy to further their trade.

“Flicker piracy works this way,” relates Edu. “Someone enters a moviehouse and pirates the film using his cellphone camera, while another does the same in a separate movie house. The act is repeated in several other moviehouses where the flicker pirates stay for short periods of time. Then, they edit the portions of the film they have taken to make it one complete product.”