Philippines finished second in the region in cleaning up corporate use of illegal software, according to BSA The Software Alliance.

A BSA report cited Philippine corporations for responding positively to its recent campaign to use legal software.

At the halfway point of the campaign, the Philippines’ results for software legalization came second to Thailand’s and ahead of Vietnam’s and Indonesia’s.

This encouraging response is the result of both the Philippine Government enforcing laws that require corporations to use only legal software, and corporate CEOs in the Philippines ensuring that their companies make comprehensive efforts to obey those laws,” said BSA in a statement.

The BSA Legalize and Protect initiative was launched to educate CEOs about the cyber security, legal, and reputational risks associated with using illegal and unlicensed software.

BSA reports that nearly 250 corporations across 9 provinces in the Philippines have cooperated in the software legalization process so far, with the majority of activity taking place in Metro Manila, Laguna, and Cebu. Most participating companies have been in the manufacturing, engineering, and industrial design industries.

The BSA software legalization campaign will end in February 2020, after which BSA will issue full performance reports for each participating ASEAN country.
These reports will be designed to help ASEAN governments plan further enforcement and educational activities in response to continued corporate use of use of illegal software.

“This campaign works in the Philippines because many corporations understand that software legalization is necessary, and it is better to be proactive than wait for a cyber crisis or legal consequences,” said Tarun Sawney, Senior Director at BSA. “The Optical Media Board (OMB) also plays an important role in holding corporations accountable. We believe that most CEOs in the Philippines are aware of their responsibility to use legal software, and we expect many more to make certain their companies do so as our campaign continues.”

In September, BSA launched its Clean Up to the Countdown campaign to persuade CEOs to ensure their corporations are compliant with local and international laws by 2020. The campaign is taking place in four large Southeast Asian nations: the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

Thus far, in response to the campaign more than 1,000 corporations in the ASEAN region have made legitimate software purchases for approximately 6,000 PCs since September. BSA anticipates these numbers will continue to grow in the campaign’s second half.