Crackdown on piracy to spare no one
Purchase of pirated DVDs puts presidential adviser's future in the balance
Manila: Several days after his political adviser was witnessed buying pirated videos, President Benigno Aquino said no one would be spared in the drive against intellectual piracy, including palace officials.
Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas was in hot water after a newspaper editor wrote that she personally witnessed the official buying a "stack" of apparently pirated DVDs at a mall in suburban Quezon City.
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda yesterday said the government would not relent on its efforts to go after video pirates.
"Our commitment, not only with respect to [the] OMB [Optical Media Board] but also with respect to [the] DTI [Department of Trade and Industry] and the other agencies which are at the forefront of the fight against intellectual piracy… We remain firm in our fight against intellectual piracy in all its forms," Lacierda said.
He said Llamas, being a public official and a palace executive, should have behaved more appropriately.
When asked by reporters if Llamas was indispensable, Lacierda said nobody — even cabinet officials — would be accorded special treatment.
