Sen. Mark Villar said new measures were needed to combat piracy, noting piracy-related activities have shifted online.
"The technological means of piracy have evolved over the years, and there is now the emergence of online pirates. Traditional law enforcement raids were barely useful anymore because almost everything is online," Villar said during a Senate deliberation on the proposed budget of the Optical Media Board (OMB) on Tuesday.
The OMB's jurisdiction only covers physical piracy and not online content. The Philippines currently has no legislative mandate to block sites with pirated content.
In the absence of legislation, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) in coordination with the National Telecommunications Commission and internet service providers were blocking sites with pirated content.
Two bills, Senate Bills 2150 and 2385, have been filed in the Senate to amend the IP code and remove its existing limitations, including electronic and online content within the definition of pirated goods.
Villar said the two measures would address online piracy issues.
In 2022, the Philippines lost $700 million to film piracy.
The YouGov 2022 Piracy Landscape Survey identified the Philippines as one of Asia's top consumers of pirated content.
IPOPHL Director General Rowel Barba estimated that the Philippines would lose around $1 billion in revenue by 2027 if online piracy continues.
The agency stressed the need to revise the 27-year-old IP code and to disable access to online sites infringing copyrighted materials.
Philippine Statistics Authority data showed piracy takes away around 7.1 percent of the country's gross domestic product.