Let’s join BBM in fighting corruption!

businesses in the Philippine market.

“All authorized participants can proudly display the official AOSD logo in their marketing materials, signaling their commitment to regional cooperation and offering trustworthy deals to consumers,” DTI said.

Moreover, the agency noted that Filipino businesses taking part in the AOSD are “relieved” from the requirement of securing a sales promotion permit with DTI streamlining their participation process.

Since 2020, DTI said the Philippines has fielded the most number of participating businesses in the AOSD. In 2022 alone, there were 120 e-commerce businesses that participated from the Philippines.

The participating companies represent a wide range of sectors including food and beverage, travel and tourism, fashion, e-marketplaces, consumer goods, handicrafts, and home and living.

DTI also noted that MSMEs joined with their products ranging from snacks, fresh produce, chocolates, coffee, condiments, cosmetics, woven items, and home decor.

Petron said.

This is the fourth consecutive week of price increase for gasoline and the fifth price hike for diesel and kerosene.

Movements in the world oil prices affect local pump prices.

T he Department of Energy (DOE) said this week’s price increase could have been the result of oil output cuts of Saudi Arabia and hike in US and European Central Bank interest rates. Lenie Lectura

By Henry J. Schumacher

IT should be our clear understanding that every loud proclamation that Corruption—as we know it—is “dead” is followed by something new. Let’s agree that there is plenty of resourcefulness out there to redefine and reinvent corruption. Resourcefulness generates options—through creative and curious problem “creation,” especially in an environment of lacking accountability and supervision. I have my doubts that digitalization is going to be an anti-corruption tool.

The obvious question is: Why does corruption survive? Its survival depends upon four conditions:

The first condition necessary for the emergence and re-emergence of corruption is that there be rents associated with government’s regulatory powers.

The second condition requires that corrupt bureaucracies be somewhat independent within the remaining (if honest) administrative structure of the government. External controls of the bureaucracy— whether imposed by the remainder of the administrative system or by society at large—must be weak. I still would love to see that digitalization in government will make a difference.

The third condition requires the public institutions controlling corruption be weak and ineffective.

These institutions include civic groups that exert moral pressures, political parties and the media that could expose the wrongdoing, and the legal system that would have the authority to prosecute and punish the guilty (in the Philippines, the poor have to go to jail but the rich can easily get away or delay processes). Impunity and corruption are going hand-in-hand. Unfortunately, that’s the truth. Powerful perpetrators involved in corruption can too often stymie enforcement against them by interfering with the justice system.

Furthermore, investigations are complex, take “ages,” and are expensive. Unfortunately, this country is Number One in the world when it comes to impunity. In corruption, the Philippines is Number? You tell me your estimate.

The fourth condition is a lack of whistleblower protection. It is obvious that strange deals between government and the private sector and private sector to private sector (price fixing, collusion in biddings, bribing technical and purchasing staff, etc.) will only become known if people inside those organizations become whistleblowers.

The pain, corruption creates can be divided into four categories: political, economic, social and environmental.

Allow me to focus on one “pain” only:

Socially, corruption is exploitive.

Inequality breeds corruption by: n Leading ordinary citizens to see a system as stacked against them; n Creating a sense of dependency among ordinary citizens and a sense of pessimism for the future, which in turn undermines the moral dictates of treating everybody honestly; and n Distorting the key institutions of fairness in society, the courts, which ordinary citizens see as their protectors against evildoers, especially those with more influence than they have.

And remember, Integrity starts with I—meaning YOU.

Let me close by saying: You are the final authority. Not the government. Not the president. Not Mom or Dad. You. The anticorruption ball is clearly in your court.

Let’s agree to kill corruption jointly with the new administration that promises to make digitalization an effective anticorruption tool! As I have said many times before, corruption hurts the poor and the vulnerable. President Ferdinand Marcos, in the SONA last week, clearly said that his policy is “to continue social programs for the poor and the vulnerable” ! Let’s kill corruption jointly. Feedback is highly welcome— contact me at hjschumacher59@ gmail.com

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

THE Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the authority of the Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Inc. (FILSCAP) to protect the owners and holders of copyrighted musical works.

In a 32-page ruling penned by Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando, the Court en banc junked the petition filed by Cosac Inc., seeking to set aside the May 28, 2015 decision and January 14, 2016 resolution of the Court of Appeals (CA) that upheld the October 2012 and July 22, 2013 orders issued by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Quezon City ordering the petitioner to pay FILSCAP damages for unpaid license fees and royalties.

The SC, however, modified the CA ruling when it lowered the damages awarded to FILSCAP from P317,050 for unpaid license fee and royalties to P300,000.

The Court, however, imposed a 12 percent interest per year from February 13, 2006 until June 30, 2013, and at the rate of 6 percent per year from July 1, 2013 until the date of finality of the judgment on the amount.

“As a final note, the Court acknowledges that FILSCAP, by authority of the deeds/agreements, represents the owners or holders of copyrighted musical works under its catalogue. As the assignee, FILSCAP is tasked to monitor and issue licenses to persons, businesses, establishments, and the like, which are interested to play or perform these musical compositions,” the SC said.

Although it seems trivial or outrageous to collect fees for this purpose, especially when almost everything is readily accessible to the listening public, the copyright owners are still entitled to be compensated for their creative work. There is no question that they invested time, creativity, talent, and effort in the creation and development of their compositions,” it added.

FILSCAP is a non-stock, non-profit corporation comprised of composers, authors, and music publishers authorized to issue licenses and collect license fees for the public performance of copyrighted musical works under its repertoire, whether for profit or not.

It is tasked to enforce and protect the performing rights of copyright owners of musical works.

On February 3, 2005 and January 13, 2006, a representative from FILSCAP who monitored Off the Grill Bar and Restaurant in Quezon City, which is (owned and operated by Cosac Inc.), discovered that the restaurant played copyrighted music without obtaining from FILSCAP a license or paying the corresponding fees.

T hus, FILSCAP advised Cosac to secure the required licenses and sent letters demanding the same on September 20, 20049 and October 14, 2004.

Due to the failure of Cosac to respond and comply with the demand, FILSCAP filed a complaint for infringement of copyright and damages against COSAC on February 13, 2006.

It claimed that Cosac’s refusal to secure

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

A LAWMAKER has proposed the integration of the government’s corrections, jail, and probation management systems through the creation of Department of Corrections to finally address the longstanding problems of congestion, abuse, and corruption in the country’s penal facilities.

I n a news statement, Bicol Saro Party list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan said he is now drafting a bill that aims to create the proposed department, which he broached during a recent House Committee on Justice briefing on the state of the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) and other jails in the country.

Dr. Raymund Narag, a recognized international criminology expert and himself a former detainee, conducted the briefing, which showed the appalling conditions inside the NBP and other jails.

These conditions are the result of the overly high congestion rate in these prisons, the lack of personnel and financial resources, and other structural deficits that breed corruption and irregular practices often tolerated by corrections officials to enable them and their detainees to survive in poorlymaintained facilities, Narag said.

Dr. Narag’s comprehensive briefing is a wake-up call for us in Congress to address once and for all the perennial problems that have long plagued our penal facilities. The the license and its continued use of copyrighted music without the requisite performing rights constitute acts of infringement.

T hus, FILSCAP said, Cosac should be compelled to secure a license and to pay royalty fees, damages, and attorney’s fees.

After failing to get a favorable ruling from the trial court and the appellate court, Cosac elevated the issue before the SC, questioning its authority to collect royalty fees.

Cosac insisted that the publication of the deeds of assignment or FILSCAP’s authority in the IPO Gazette is necessary under Section 182 of the Intellectual Property Code (IPC) as it serves to inform the general public of its authority to collect royalty fees.

I t further contended that FILSCAP’s authority as assignee is vague and not supported by evidence.

I t also questioned the damages and attorney’s fees awarded in favor of FILSCAP for being baseless and excessive, noting that Cosac has no control over what the bands will sing in its establishment.

H owever, the SC held that the trial court and the CA were correct when it ruled that Cosac committed infringing activities in two ways: performance by a live band and playing of sounds of recordings.

In any case, the playing of music in Off the Grill was not done privately, and the establishment is not a charitable or religious institution or society. Additionally, the playing of the creative copyrighted music in Off the Grill was commercial in nature, and will work against the copyright owners’ interests,” the SC ruled.

Thus, Cosac’s acts did not fall under the said limitations and the fair use doctrine,” it added.

It can be recalled that in 2022, the SC declared that the act of playing radio broadcast with copyrighted music through the use of loudspeakers (radio-over-loudspeakers) without a license from the copyright owner is considered a performance and an infringement of copyright.

The Court also ordered that a copy of the decision be furnished to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines for their guidance and information, as well as the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Philippines as reference for possible statutory amendments on the Intellectual Property Code without violating the State’s commitments under the Berne Convention and the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.

The Berne Convention provides that authors of musical works shall enjoy the exclusive right of authorizing the public performance of their works, including the “public performance by any means or process” and “any communication to the public of the performance of the works.”

O n the other hand, TRIPS Agreement incorporates by reference the provisions on copyright from the Berne Convention.

The Court held that “radio reception transmitted through loudspeakers to enhance profit does not constitute, and is not analogous to fair use.” problems enumerated by Dr. Narag are also the same problems that we in the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) have encountered in district, city, and municipal jails nationwide and tried to find solutions to more than 10 years ago under then Secretary Ronnie Puno,” said Yamsuan, a former DILG assistant secretary.

“ Based on Dr. Narag’s extensive analyses, there appear to be no significant improvements at all in our penal facilities despite the passage of a law in 2013 that aims to strengthen and professionalize the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor),” the lawmaker added.

C reating a line agency like the Department of Corrections will enable the government to introduce long-due reforms in its fragmented corrections and jail management systems and work on improving the living conditions and rehabilitation programs of persons deprived of liberty (PDL), Yamsuan said.

The department will also be able to focus on safeguarding the rights of PDLs, from the time of their detention up to their rehabilitation and reintegration into society, he added.

Yamsuan made the proposal as the House Committee on Public Order and Safety, of which he is also a member, is set to conduct this week a motu proprio inquiry in aid of legislation into the reported disappearance of a PDL and the discovery of mass graves inside the NBP’s maximum security compound. H e said he would closely