A Closure on the Great Book Blockade of 2009

Thanks to Rayvi Sunico for leading me to this link on DEPARTMENT ORDER NO. 57-2011
09 December 2011 at the Department of Finance website. It will greatly be of help to me as a school librarian ordering and acquiring imported books off shore. There's a downloadable PDF on the Florence Agreement which mentions that books bought by libraries are exempt from tax duties. But, of course.

As a government protocol, registration is the next step for libraries who wish to be exempt from tax duties.

My question is: Is it worth going through all the trouble of registration so that libraries can save from book purchases abroad?

Book Blockade Over

The outgoing Philippine President has done a bit of good for this country.

Head on to this link for the official press release. Read the highlighted link for more information on the signed EO85.

TGBB 2009: News From The Grapevine

From a reliable source --

...the "suspension" is temporary. The duties/taxes are not rescinded, removed or lifted.

The battle is not yet over.

Lifting Book Duties

In a previous post about the The Great Book Blockade of 2009, I mentioned the silence that pervaded Filipino librarians on this side of the issue. While it is good to note that Filipino blograrians were up in arms to blog about TGBB 2009 in their individual capacity, there was no collective voice from professional associations or teachers of LIS to rally or petition the lifting of book duties. Unless, of course, I have not been looking at the right places. I can be wrong.

iRead2 put a fullstop on my musings through this post --

Now even if the duties were scrapped the common man would not be able still to get or even buy a book. There is still a need to develop other avenues by which everyone can avail of the book and one of this is develop our public library system. Promote and develop them.

Not everyone can afford to buy a book. Not everyone has a credit line to buy a book. This is where or this where a library, public or otherwise can fill the gap.

I'd like to think that most Filipino librarians are battling their own professional issues and problems that to make a noise on the TGBB is just too much to do for now. I would like to think that somewhere out there, Filipino Librarians are quietly transforming their libraries into places where the public can freely access information from printed and online media.

Breaking the Blockade

PGMA did one right decision today --

"Taxes on book imports lifted"
By Paolo Romero Updated May 25, 2009 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - President Arroyo ordered yesterday the
Department of Finance to scrap the taxes imposed on imported books and
reading material.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said the directive was prompted by a
torrent of criticism on the move of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), which
is under the supervision of the finance department, to impose the
duties.

“President Arroyo ordered the immediate lifting of the customs duty on
book importation,” Remonde said in a text message to The STAR.

“The President wants books to be within reach of the common man. She
believes reading as an important value for intellectual formation,
which is the foundation of a healthy public opinion necessary for a
vibrant democracy,” he said.

More on the news at Philstar.com

Timeline of the GBB09

Manuel L. Quezon III has a nifty timeline of the Great Book Blockade of 2009 (GBB09). That's where I learned that RockEd will be giving away free books on May 24, 2009. So, if you're somewhere near Roxas Boulevard on the given date, go and rally for books, reading and literacy.



It is also interesting to note that R. Hemley has written about the strength of Pinoy bloggers on bringing up this issue to the public. MLQ III has the links too. Now I wonder if PLAI, or any of the many Filipino Librarian's association in the country has a "say" on the GBB09.

Shhh. Silence please. You're in the library.

The Great Book Blockade of 2009

The Great Book Blockade of 2009 has made everyone in the book industry busy and noisy. The PBBY is actually coming up with its own stand on the plight of book taxation in the country. Elfren Cruz has written an essay in Business World about this.

Here's an excerpt.

Historically, in every slave-owning society (including the United States) slaves were not allowed to read. There was a period in European civilization when barbarians ruled and books were accessible in a few monasteries. This was aptly called the Dark Ages.

One of the saddest periods in the history of the Catholic church was the period of the Inquisition and the Index of Forbidden Books when again authorities decided what could and could not be read.

Alberto Managuel, in his book A History of Reading, wrote:

"As centuries of dictators have known, an illiterate crowd is easiest to rule; since the craft of reading cannot be untaught once it has been acquired, the second best recourse is to limit its scope. Therefore, like no other human creation, books have been the bane of dictatorships. Absolute power requires that all reading be official reading, instead of whole libraries of opinions, the ruler’s words should suffice."

Throughout history, man’s search to know his world and himself has been through the written word conveyed in books. Perhaps it may be difficult for most politicians to comprehend, but the truth is that words and wisdom, written in books, have the power to change our lives much more than roads, bridges, and ambulances financed by pork barrel funds.

For the full article, read Mr. Cruz here.