News Update Manila red-faced as official seen buying pirated DVDs

MANILA - In an embarrassing setback to the Philippine government's anti-piracy effort, President Benigno Aquino's political adviser was caught on camera shopping for illegally copied films in a mall here.

A photograph of Mr Ronald Llamas browsing through a box of pirated DVDs was published on the front page of the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Wednesday.

A journalist from one of the Inquirer's sister newspapers spotted Mr Llamas - accompanied by his bodyguards - buying a 'stack' of DVDs from a stall holder at the Circle C mall in the Quezon City area of Manila on Monday night.

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'I will ask him first what he was doing there. There is a process and we have rules and regulations to follow.'

President Benigno Aquino on his political adviser Ronald Llamas, who was caught on camera shopping for illegally copied films

Mr Aquino downplayed the incident. He told TV5 while visiting flood victims in the south on Wednesday that DVD piracy is not a high priority. 'We have so many other problems,' he said.