Greenhills expected to exit US list of ‘notorious markets’ for counterfeits

THE Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said it expects Greenhills Shopping Center (GSC) in San Juan City to exit the US list of “notorious markets” for counterfeit goods by 2027 with the help of a new help desk for complaints set up within the mall.

IPOPHL Deputy Director General Nathaniel S. Arevalo said the help desk will serve as a one-stop shop for complaints about counterfeit or pirated goods.

“In fact, one of our targets is that by 2027, it will be removed in the ‘Notorious Market’ List,” he told reporters.

“We would like this to be the model for other marketplaces or malls with reported counterfeiting, and we will replicate this initiative,” he noted.

The IPOPHL launched the GSC IPR Help Desk on Monday.

Greenhills, a 16-hectare shopping mall known for its tiangge (flea market) retail setup, was singled out in the US Trade Representative (USTR) 2025 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy, which was released on March 3.

Mr. Arevalo called the GSC’s presence in the Notorious Market List a “challenge” to the country’s reputation.

“By maintaining a sustained, strategic, and on-the-ground presence in a priority enforcement area, the NCIPR (National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights) is moving beyond occasional inspections toward a permanent culture of compliance,”he said during the launch.

The help desk will also provide tenants with information to help them transition towards selling legitimate goods, Mr. Arevalo added.

The most cited counterfeit goods found in Greenhills include apparel, cosmetics, supplements, and electronic devices, he said.

Mr. Arevalo noted that members of the NCIPR can also refer to the help desk in fulfilling their mandates on intellectual property rights enforcement.

The NCIPR is an inter-agency body composed of the Department of Trade and Industry, IPOPHL, the Bureau of Customs, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Justice, the Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the National Book Development Board, the Office of the Special Envoy on Transnational Crime, the National Telecommunications Commission, and the Optical Media Board.

IPOPHL is seeking to boost vendor education, especially on social media, to encourage the shift toward selling legitimate products, Mr. Arevalo said.

The authorities confiscated P30 billion worth of counterfeit goods in 2025, according to USTR data.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has announced the appointment of Teodoro C. Pascua as director general of the IPOPHL. Mr. Arevalo had been serving as acting director general. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz