Interviews by Cora Lucas, Pocholo Concepcion, Marinel Cruz, Mina Erandio and Stephanie Asuncion

MANILA, Philippines?Time was when bootleg copies of films were only taken by someone who slipped his camcorder into a theater, or illegally duplicated copies of copyrighted movies. Well, movie piracy has taken a new form. Feature films can now be illegally downloaded from Internet sites, which is how a tech-savvy thief leaked the unfinished version of ?Wolverine? way before its theater release early this year.

Whichever way they?re sourced, illegal reproductions that deplete box-office revenues make movies more accessible to the public?at little or no cost at all. Pirated DVDs are sold for less than half the price of a regular movie ticket. High-quality copies can be had at three for P100 for DVDs, and P50 for the near-perfect Blu-ray format. Digital downloads are available to anyone who has Internet access.

Needless to say, movie production companies suffer untold losses as well, and video rental shops that used to make big business have disappeared.

Edu Manzano, resigned Optical Media Board chair, attributes the worsening condition to sophisticated technology that has aided pirates. Manzano explains: ?Any patron of pirated movies would ask, ?Why should I have to go out, spend money on movie tickets, gas and parking fees, when I can watch any film feature within the comforts of my home?? Everything is accessible through the Net.?

Jake Gan, vice president for Business Development & Operations of Odyssey Music & Video Stores, agrees that online piracy is bigger than all the other forms, if only because it?s almost impossible to monitor.

Comedian-rapper Michael V, who is proud of his home theater and an all-original DVD collection, points to the lack of information campaign against the ill effects of piracy. ?Anti-piracy ads are run in movie theaters or [affixed to] movies on original DVDs,? he says. ?The target audience is not being addressed. The campaign should be run on mainstream TV.?

Sharing their views on the issue, along with Manzano, Gan and Michael V are Aling Melay, a sari-sari store owner who sells pirated DVDs on the side; Melissa, a vendor in a mall; and Chona, who collects pirated DVDs.

Edu Manzano
Former chair, Optical Media Board

If you?re talking of an increase in physical products, the number of pirated discs has been reduced to 16 or 17 percent. What has gone up is Internet downloading. Games, music and movies can all be accessed through the Net.

My frustration is that there was no specific law on this when the Optical Media Law was formed in 2003. Nobody foresaw that technology would grow as fast as it has. In many ways, technology has surpassed our laws. We keep saying that we should be pro-active. We should be five steps ahead in this, but such is not the case.

Demand for bootleg products is low. The No. 1 indicator is the price. What used to cost P120 is now being sold from P20 to P40?these are mostly what we call CD burns. The replicated or pressed copy is sold from P16 to P19, the lowest from P13 to P14. CD burning is more preferred now.

The market has been reduced in size. But what hurt the pirates most were the raids. This was evident in the raid we conducted on April 24. With the help of customs police, we intercepted 12 containers of replicating machines that came from America. That was an indicator that the business of piracy there is dying, too. The confiscated cargo cost 300 to 400 euros or about P20 million. We were told that the containers were to be shipped to Vietnam and Nigeria.

In the absence of a specific law, there is nothing we can do to prevent piracy via the Net. A report posted on the Australian website www.sundaynight.aus showed how online piracy was done in Australia. There are cities there that still have drive-by theaters. What a pirate does is to simply open his car window and record. He uploads the copy to his computer and sends it via e-mail to all his clients all over the world. The physical product is gone. It only surfaces if the buyer decides to transfer it to a CD.

Piracy via the Net was never anticipated. There are Flixster, Torrents and a number of other sites from which you can download movies or games. After attending a convention on international piracy in Kuala Lumpur, I took it upon myself to ask for help from Congress and Senate to solve the problem. We asked (6th district of Manila) Rep. Benny Abante to help spearhead a bill on this in Congress. In the Senate, we asked Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Kiko Pangilinan to shepherd legislation.

Jake Gan
Vice president for Business Development & Operations, Odyssey Music & Video Stores

Piracy is not as overt as it once was. Malls which used to abet video piracy, such as 168, Metro Walk and Virra Mall in Greenhills no longer display pirated video products as openly as before, when pirates had stalls and kiosks. Restrictions have been tightened, so video pirates are moving to the provincial areas.

We notice that more consumers in the NCR are coming back to purchasing legitimate video discs because of price drops and supply improvements.

Michael V
Artist and videophile

I have an all-original DVD collection?from comedy to documentaries, from animé to biographies?local and imported. I especially love the collectors? editions. I love freebies! My favorite is the ?Matrix? collection with the Neo Bust and ?Predator? collection with the Head. I even watch behind-the-scenes special features. I order my DVDs online through Amazon.com. I am also a loyal customer of AstroVision.

I have actually moved on to the next format level?Blu-ray, which is kid-friendly because it?s scratch-resistant. With Blu-ray, I get to watch movies in high-definition. I get to appreciate action and sci-fi movies more, with the special effects.

I patronize genuine DVDs because of their quality?they?re meant to last. Plus, I?m in this industry and I respect it. Golden rule!

But you can?t blame the movie audience for buying pirated discs. See it like Michael Jackson. Start with ?the man in the mirror.? I have an idea: Celebrities can talk directly to their fans about the adverse effects of piracy on the movie industry as part of a major awareness drive. I?m willing to spearhead one such drive.

Chona
Pirated DVD collector

My fascination with pirated DVDs started two years ago, when a friend referred a website offering an extensive list of rare titles at P40 per disc. The going-rate then was P50 to P60, so I browsed the site to check if it had the titles I couldn?t find in Quiapo.

Well, there they were, the movies I?ve always wanted to watch. While I am sure that Quiapo has ?Cinema Paradiso? (1988), ?Citizen Kane? (1941), ?City of God? (2002) and ?Bonnie and Clyde? (1967), I don?t have the patience to hop from one store to another and rummage through the piles.

And so I placed my orders and three days later, I got my copies. Although they have no labels other than post-it notes, they?re as clear as originals. Since then, I have been a customer.

Through the same website, I got my copies of ?Ang Tatay Kong Nanay,? ?Markova,? ?Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag? and ?Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang,? to name a few.

There have also been some forgettable flicks. But at P40, they?re still good copies, even of bad movies.

Melissa
Vendor

Business is great if there?s a lot of good stuff showing in the movie houses. During vacation, like Holy Week, a lot of customers come to stock up. We also have a lot of tourist customers who look for old movies of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, action movies and classics.

If sales have gone down a bit, I think it?s just because of the hard times. People prioritize food and necessities. Now they buy DVDs only when they have extra money?and only one or two. But still, they?d rather watch movies at home than go out and spend more.

When we hear there?s going to be a raid?yes, we do get prior ?notice? sometimes?we don?t put all our wares on display so that if we get caught, we lose only a little. Other stores like ours stay closed for the day.

Aling Melay, 49
Vendor

Pirated DVDs sell more than the other things in my sari-sari store. From my DVD sales, I was able to take a vacation in Hong Kong. They say times are hard, but the more Filipinos suffer, the more they look for a diversion.

I see to it that I sell high-quality copies, so I test the DVDs first, watching them before I order. Customers return defective discs; it?s such a hassle, because I have to spend extra on transportation when I bring them back to my supplier.

I am affected by raids, too. My wares are confiscated. I?m not arrested, but I lose my capital. So I?ve resorted to giving protection money of P150 a week to some cops. They pick up the money, but sometimes I bring it to the station.