THE Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) yesterday identified the Philippines as one of the primary source of pirated Hollywood movies proliferating in other countries.

MPAA vice president Steve Zidek said that from July 2007 to March 2008, almost half (47 percent) of the pirated Hollywood movies recorded through camcorders and circulated internationally came from the Philippines.

"Fifteen camcorded versions of Hollywood movies were forensically linked to recordings made in Metro Manila theaters and within 24-72 hours, these had already been distributed around the world," Zidek said.

He said the Philippine-made pirated copies found their way to Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Texas and Miami in the United States; in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Mexico, Romania, Puerto Rico, Italy and Hungary.

Zidek cited as an example the movie "The Golden Compass" which was released in Manila last Dec. 5.

"It was found to have come from a Manila theater and within 24 hours, the camcorded version had already reached Chicago," he claimed.

Other Asia-Pacific countries where unauthorized copies of Hollywood movies were found are Hong Kong (19 percent), Thailand (13 percent), Indonesia (9 percent), Japan (6 percent), Malaysia (3 percent) and Australia (3 percent).

"I am here to underscore how important it is for us to address the problem here in the Philippines. We take it very seriously. I am taking it very seriously," said Zidek, who is also the director of the Anti-Piracy Intelligence Center of the Motion Picture Association-International.

Alex Morrison of the Philippine-based Hills and Associates consultancy firm, said the MPAA is coordinating with the Optical Media Board anti-piracy measures for implementation in critical sites in the country. Among these are the deployment of cinema staff equipped with night vision goggles (NVG); placement of anti-camcorder posters around cinemas; improvement of training programs for movie-house staffs; and distribution of educational materials on what to do in case anyone catches a person camcording a movie.

"We need help from the public in solving this international problem," Morrison said.

OMB chairman Eduardo Man-zano said they are grateful for the MPAA's help in countering piracy. He said the MPAA has offered OMB 16 NVGs and information- and analyses-sharing.