PNoy Adviser Ronaldo Llamas Caught Buying Pirated DVDs

A Malacañang executive is in hot water after being seen buying pirated DVDs in Quezon City. Ronaldo Llamas, PNoy’s Presidential Political Affairs Adviser, was seen buying pirated DVDs at the Circle C mall along Congressional Avenue. ‘Bandera’ associate editor Dona Policar witnessed the whole thing and wrote about the incident.

According to Policar, Ronaldo Llamas seemed unfazed that people recognized him as he browsed, then bought, illegal merchandise. Policar was able to snap a picture of Llamas buying the pirated DVDs using her mobile phone camera, disabling the automatic flash first so that she wouldn’t get Llamas’ attention as well as his two barong-clad bodyguards’.

Ronaldo Llamas bought P2,000 worth of pirated DVDs according to the stall owner and even revealed to Dona Policar that the Presidential Political Affairs Adviser of President Noynoy Aquino is a regular customer.

News of Llamas buying pirated DVDs drew varied reactions. Ronnie Ricketts, chairman of the Optical Media Board which is under the Office of the President, expressed his disappointment. However, he admitted that he cannot do anything, his hands are tied by the law. According to the Philippines’ anti-piracy law, there is no penalty for the buyer.

“There’s no law penalizing those who buy it just for their personal use,” Ricketts explained. But if “eight or more copies were bought, that is another thing,” he said. “That could mean the buyer was engaging in business himself.”

“I’m hopeful that my fellow government officials would realize this and set the example themselves. Maybe they don’t realize the consequence when they buy pirated DVDs,” Ricketts added.

Nice words from Mr. Ricketts. However, many in social media have expressed doubts that Llamas will be accountable for his actions. Not after he was again SAVED by President Noynoy Aquino himself.

Interviewed by the media about the incident, PNoy downplayed the issue and said that film and music piracy is not a priority of his administration. Huh? Tell that to Obama when you visit the USA.

“That DVD (piracy) is perhaps somewhere below in our priority list. We have so many other problems like the spiraling prices of oil and the tensions in Iran,” Aquino said.

How can a president, whose office directly oversees an agency tasked to stop piracy, ignore one of his own advisers caught buying pirated merchandise – i.e. ILLEGAL MERCHANDISE?

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