President Benigno Aquino III said the government fully supports efforts to boost the local music industry and its integral role in Philippine culture.
The president graced the Pinoy Music Summit on Wednesday and learned from summit organizers the current state of the industry and its issues and problems. Artists and other members of the industry said that foreign music dominated over local ones. The local album sales have also declined from P2.7 billion in 1999 to P699 million in 2010 or a 75 percent drop in revenues within a decade.
For his part, Aquino cited Executive Order 255 which was signed by his mother and former president Corazon Aquino in 1987. The EO aimed to promote our own music by playing on the radio at least four Filipino songs per hour. He said he further bolstered the law by ordering the National Telecommunications Commission to ensure its implementation. He also strengthened the Optical Media Board’s anti-piracy campaign, which from 2011 to 2013 resulted in the confiscation of pirated optical media products worth P3 billion
