FORMER action star Ronnie Ricketts stays on as Optical Media Board (OMB) chairman until 2013.

?We received a letter from Malacañang informing us of the extension,? said Ricketts, who took over the post in October 2009 after Edu Manzano quit to run for vice president in the national elections.

Ricketts? term as OMB chairman was supposed to have ended on March 7.

?Things have become more stable now with the extension,? he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. ??Di na kami nangangapa [We will no longer be uncertain]. This means we can push through with our operations and programs.?

Campus tour

The OMB chief has been hard at work with the Board?s anti-piracy campaign in the first quarter of 2010. His team has been visiting schools in Manila, most recently the Philippine Christian University, to explain to the youth the ill-effects of piracy.

Exhibition basketball games with the OMB All-Star team were held in most of the schools. The half-time shows featured rappers Artstrong and Dcoy performing the OMB theme song ?Bawal Kumopya,? as well as the shredding of confiscated pirated DVDs and CDs.

Other schools included in the campus tour were Adamson University, Emilio Aguinaldo College, La Salle Green Hills and Manuel Roxas High School, where the Board donated a number of DVD burners. ?This will be used solely for research and technological advancement of the students,? Ricketts said of the donations.

Also this month, former PBA cager and now coach Alvin Patrimonio and running priest Father Robert Reyes visited the OMB office in a gesture of support for the anti-piracy campaign.

Shredding machines

?The truth is we get support from a lot of people. I guess help comes once people see that you?re working hard,? Ricketts pointed out. ?In fact, the MPDAP (Movie Producers Distributors Association of the Philippines) recently donated several shredding machines. We let basketball team captains, student-leaders and faculty members take part in destroying pirated materials.?

As a sign that the campaign is being taken seriously, Ricketts claimed that kids are now telling their parents not to buy pirated discs. ?Nangangaral na ang mga bata [The children are now the ones teaching],? he said.

But he admitted that there?s still a lot of work to do. ?My goal really is to put up regional offices to reach out to the youth in the provinces,? Ricketts said.

Other positive developments:

SM Malls officials have agreed to provide a venue for OMB seminars and symposia on piracy. The launching of this joint venture was held at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

?When we raid stalls of pirated materials in Davao, for example, we also need to explain why we are doing it. We need a place that?s suitable for dialogue with the locals,? Ricketts said.

A meeting with officers of the Philippine Association of the Record Industry Inc. was held. ?They sought me out,? Ricketts said. ?They appreciate the fact that they can run to us for protection of the rights of their artists.?

The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) hosted an appreciation dinner for guests including Ricketts, who was awarded for ?maintaining zero piracy? during the 2009 Metro Manila Film Festival in December last year. The OMB also received a plaque of appreciation from the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Science (Famas) for the same feat, as well as from the group of the Motion Picture Anti-Film Piracy Council, Philippine Motion Pictures Producers Association, Movie Producers Distributors Association of the Philippines, and the National Cinema Association of the Philippines.

Email marinelcruz@gmail.com.