THE amount of fake goods seized in the country from January to September dropped by 47.16 percent compared to the same period last year, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (Ipophl) said on Tuesday.

Based on records of the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR) — an interagency body in charge of protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in the country — the monetary value of confiscated counterfeit items totaled P18.6 billion in the last nine months, with garments and bags topping the list.