Pirated discs selling at lower prices on eve of citywide ban

For the first time in years, only a few vendors were hawking pirated discs on sidewalks and in several buildings on Arlegui and Bautista streets in Quiapo on Thursday, a day before the Manila government is to impose a citywide crackdown on the sale of pirated CDs and DVDs.

“All these stalls will be closed down by tomorrow,” a male vendor told the Inquirer in Filipino. “We are taking our wares somewhere else, maybe to Cebu or Davao.”

In the Carriedo and R. Hidalgo area, however, it was business as usual. The stretch from the Carriedo LRT station to Quiapo Church remained full of vendors selling their wares at lower prices.

“Each of these now sells for P20,” one vendor said in Filipino. “Before, it sold for P50. We will be here until 6 p.m. [today]. By tomorrow, we will be out of here.”

“This is the last day for selling pirated DVDs,” said a teenage boy who was manning a stall. “Tomorrow, we will be selling T-shirts.”

On Wednesday, Mayor Alfredo Lim and officials of the Optical Media Board (OMB) agreed not to give in to requests for a postponement of the ban’s enforcement.

OMB chief Ronnie Ricketts and Lim said that the vendors had been given enough time to dispose of their wares and to find a legitimate source of livelihood.