Llamas has ‘apologized’ to Aquino for pirated discs, but probe still on
MANILA, Philippines—Would an apology to no less than the President save his job?
Presidential political adviser Ronald Llamas may know the answer on Monday.
Llamas said on Sunday he had apologized to President Aquino over last week’s incident in which he was photographed by the Inquirer’s Bandera editor buying pirated DVDs in a Quezon City mall.
Five days after the Inquirer ran the story and a picture of him in the mall, Llamas finally broke his silence on the issue. He said he saw the President last Friday to explain his side.
“He told me I had to undergo internal processes and investigation,” Llamas said in a phone interview. Asked whether he apologized to the Chief Executive for the incident, Llamas said he did.
Llamas gave no other details on what he talked about with Aquino, saying he did not want to preempt the investigation results the Palace would be releasing by Monday, at the earliest.
Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. is expected to release a memorandum on the case.
“I do not want to preempt them,” Lllamas said.
Asked whether he was prepared for whatever decision the Palace would have, Llamas simply said, “Yup.”
Llamas has found himself on the hot seat after the controversial photograph and newspaper article by Dona Policar, associate editor of Bandera, appeared in the Inquirer and in its sister publication.
Policar saw Llamas buying what turned out to be P2,000 worth of pirated DVDs in a stall at Circle C mall on Congressional Avenue in Quezon City.
Llamas was accompanied by his two bodyguards when he bought the DVDs, in violation of the Anti-Piracy Law and in the face of a government drive against film pirates so the Philippines would be stricken off the international “piracy watchlist.”
When the Philippine Daily Inquirer ran the story last Wednesday, Aquino said he would ask Llamas to explain but added that the controversy was not a top priority given the “many problems” the country was facing, including a bomb explosion in Makati City and the killing of 15 fishermen off Basilan Island by unidentified gunmen.
The Palace gave no other details on the investigation into the DVD incident. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the probe was going on but could not say who or which office was conducting it.
Valte said Malacañang would come out with a “notice” on the case “next week.”
In an earlier statement, the Optical Media Board (OM)B said buyers of pirated DVDs were “not criminally liable” under the Optical Media Act of 1993.
“The purchase of DVDs (that are not original and) not used for commercial activities does not entail liability based on the law on Optical Media. Those in the possession of the same, but who do not sell them, are not penalized,” said lawyer Coco Padilla, chief of the OMB legal division.
“That is what is stated in the law. We can only act based on the authority granted us by law,” Padilla said.
