In a press briefing announcing the country’s competitiveness ranking in information technology, a BSA official recommended the course of action to improve the country’s competitiveness.
The BSA earlier said that the Philippines retained its ranking of 47 out of 66 countries in the global IT competitiveness study commissioned by the BSA and completed by the Economic Intelligence Unit in July.
In the Asia Pacific region, the Philippine’s ranking increased a notch higher to 10 out of 17 countries.
Jeffrey Hardee, BSA vice president and regional director for the Asia Pacific region, said these numbers indicate that the Philippines has made progress in improving its competitiveness as far as IT is concerned.
However, in the six categories breaking down the overall results, the Philippines’ ranking in the category legal environment, which carried a weight of 10 percent, dropped to 47 from 44 worldwide. In Asia, the Philippines ranked 11 out of 17 countries.
The EIU noted the “slow moving judiciary,” including the lack of funding and number of judges.
“The Philippines can do more to improve the protection of IP, including more seizures of pirate and counterfeit products, (and) destruction of equipment making them,” the EIU said.
Hardee said the “ownership of IP is very important in the development of the country,” particularly in encouraging research and development.
The Philippines scored poorly in the R&D category that carried the highest weight among the six categories at 25 percent. The Philippines ranked 62nd worldwide and 16th in the region.
Hardee also urged Congress to pass pending legislation, including those related to spam, cybercrime and data privacy.
Currently pending in the Senate are Senate Bill 880 which seeks to amend the Philippine IP Code, and SB 1180 which seeks to protect data privacy.
BSA is an international association which counts among its members some of the biggest software companies, including Microsoft, Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, IBM, HP and Intel.
Among its advocacies are copyright protection, cyber security, trade and e-commerce. - Veronica C. Silva, GMANews.TV
