Villar recommends zero budget for Edu's board

Senate President Manny Villar today recommended a zero-peso budget for the Optical Media Board (OMB) headed by actor/TV host Edu Manzano for fiscal year 2008.

Villar made the recommendation after a review of its performance showed that OMB has not been effective in eradicating the problem of software piracy in the country. "Lackluster performance in solving piracy can be seen in our continued inclusion since 2001 in the international Watch List of countries violating intellectual property rights," Villar said. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) annually draws up a list of countries violating intellectual property rights. It identified 10 notorious markets for pirated goods, which included Quiapo in Manila, the Panthip Plaza in Bangkok, Thailand, the Harco Glodok in Jakarta, Indonesia and the Silk Street Market in Beijing, China. Villar said the recommendation, once approved by Congress, effectively abolishes OMB. Villar said he is not satisfied with the way OMB performed for the past years and he is not inclined to support the proposed P25.2-million budget for the agency next year.

"We are yet to see big fishes prosecuted for counterfeiting. The persisting presence of piracy dens in the country creates an atmosphere of lawlessness and does not help improve the investment climate," he said.

It can be recalled that, added Villar, then Senate Finance Committee Chair Franklin Drilon recommended a one-peso budget for OMB over the repeated failure of Manzano to attend the budget hearings on the OMB budget.

Manzano sent a low-ranking OMB Intelligence Agent to defend the board's budget, earning him the ire of legislators who saw his absence as indifference to the needs of the board he heads.