PNP leads destruction of P65-M worth of seized fake goods

INQUIRER.net photo / Consuelo Marquez

MANILA, Philippines — Authorities destroyed P65-million worth of counterfeit goods, including fake fashion brands and cellphones, during a ceremony at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Quezon City on Friday.

Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) Director General Josephine Santiago and IPOPHL Deputy Director General Atty. Teodoro Pascua witnessed the ceremonial destruction of the confiscated items.

https://twitter.com/CMarquezINQ/status/1116534367327674369

Among the items destroyed were counterfeit Louis Vuitton bags, wallets, cellphone cases valued at P42 million, bogus shoes worth P10.12 million, fake rolex watches worth P1.8 million, fake Oppo cellphones worth P10 million, pirated DVDs worth P58,500, branded cutting blades worth P50,000, fake Lacoste shirts valued at P1 million, bogus cigarettes worth P370,000 and fake pieces of soap.

The P65-million worth of goods were only a fraction of the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights’ (NCIPR) total seizure in 2018 worth P23.6 billion.

Santiago said the 2018 seizure of fake items was 188 percent higher than the government’s seizure in 2017.

“This shows a growth of 188 percent over that of 2017. This is the largest amount confiscated by the government since 2008,” Santiago said in her speech during the ceremonial event.

In 2017, NCIPR confiscated P8.2-billion worth of fake items, including a large bulk of consumer electronics.

NCIPR, government’s anti-piracy task force, is under the Department of Trade and Industry and IPOPHL. /jpv