Senator Mark Villar has underscored anew the need for stiffer measures against online piracy, noting that most of the illegal activities related to piracy are now conducted online.

Villar said this during the budget deliberations of the Optical Media Board (OMB). He explained that the technological means for piracy have evolved over the years, and that there was a need to crackdown against online pirates.

"Wala nang niri-raid kasi lahat [ng piracy] nasa online na halos (There are no more raids because almost all [the piracy] is online)," Villar said.

The OMB only has jurisdiction on physical piracy and not online content.

The Philippines currently has no legislative mandate to block online sites with pirated content. The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), and Internet service providers can only employ stopgap measures.

Two separate bills--Senate Bills (SB) No.2150 and 2385--are currently filed in the Senate for the purpose amend the IP code and remove its existing limitations to cover electronic and online content within the definition of pirated goods.

Villar initially said that the passage of these bills would solve issues of online piracy once they were enacted into law.

Villar also previously chaired the Committee on Trade, Commerce, and Entrepreneurship and led the public hearings on the two bills. The committee is now chaired by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano.

In 2022, the Philippines lost around $700 million due to the piracy of Filipino-made TV shows and movies.

The country has been named as one of the top consumers of pirated content in Asia, according to a YouGov 2022 Piracy Landscape Survey.

IPOPHL Director General Rowel Barba estimates that the Philippines will have around $1 billion in revenue leakage in 2027 if concerns regarding online piracy continue.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), piracy takes away around 7.1 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

This results in forgone revenue for the country and loss of livelihood, and it even threatens to inflict malware on devices consuming pirated content, which can be a gateway for scams.

The IPOPHL also said that revising the 27-year-old IP code and mandating authorities to disable access to online sites infringing copyrighted materials was much welcomed.