May

5

The Great Philippine Book Blockade of 2009

Filed Under Books | 11 Comments

This is posted word for word from this blog. I have no other comment except to say that I am furious and that once again, the Philippine government has shown how incompetent, and how utterly uncultured they are.

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In the last few months, the importation of books into the Philippines has virtually stopped. (I’ve noticed it at Fully Booked) The reason why is explained in this article by Robin Hemley, a University of Iowa creative writing professor currently on a fellowship in the Philippines. If you have no time to read the article (and I suggest you do, and read his other dispatches as well), the essence is that because the Bureau of Customs has decided to impose duties on the importation of books into the Philippines.

This, despite the 1950 Florence Agreement on the Importation of Educational, scientific and Cultural Materials (which you can see here), which the Philippines ratified in 1979. The preamble of the agreement states: “Considering that the free exchange of ideas and knowledge and, in general, the widest possible dissemination of the diverse forms of self-expression used by civilizations are vitally important both for intellectual progress and international understanding, and consequently for the maintenance of world peace…”, an indisputable proposition.

Towards that end, Article I(1)(a) of the Florence Agreement states:

“1. The contracting States undertake not to apply customs duties or other charges on, or in connection with, the importation of:

(a) Books, publications and documents, listed in Annex A to this Agreement;”

What does Annex A state?

“Annex A

Books, publications and documents

(i) Printed books. xxx”

Obviously, this new policy of the Bureau of Customs contravenes the Florence Agreement. More fundamentally, shunting aside the legalities, this is a tax on knowledge imposed by people who are not that smart. Only through intellectual progress can we have a fighting chance to succeed as a nation, and intellectual progress can only be possible in an atmosphere where information and ideas flow free and freely. And if you think that the problem will be cured by carving an exception for “educational books”, then you are wrong. Ideas are not confined to textbooks — they are steeped in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, pulp novels, and Mad Magazine. By no means, in 1887, would Noli me Tangere have been considered an “educational book”, but it reeks of enlightenment and liberal ideas from which the reader can learn from. That is why the Florence Agreement is unequivocal in its prohibition of duties on books.

Please forward this or disseminate this in any way you can. In the name of reading.

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Further, from an email I received with a few more details:

An exceprt from Robin Hemley’s article, which you can read in full here (The Great Book Blockade of 2009)

“……Over coffee one afternoon, a book-industry professional (whom I can’t identify) told me that for the past two months virtually no imported books had entered the country, in part because of the success of one book, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. The book, an international best seller, had apparently attracted the attention of customs officials. When an examiner named Rene Agulan opened a shipment of books, he demanded that duty be paid on it.

The importer of Twilight made a mistake and paid the duty requested. A mistake because such duty flies in the face of the Florence Agreement, a U.N. treaty that was signed by the Philippines in 1952, guaranteeing the free flow of “educational, scientific, and cultural materials” between countries and declaring that imported books should be duty-free. Mr. Agulan told the importer that because the books were not educational (i.e., textbooks) they were subject to duty. Perhaps they aren’t educational, I might have argued, but aren’t they “cultural”?

No matter. With this one success under their belt, customs curtailed all air shipments of books entering the country. Weeks went by as booksellers tried to get their books out of storage and started intense negotiations with various government officials.

What doubly frustrated booksellers and importers was that the explanations they received from various officials made no sense. It was clear that, for whatever reason—perhaps the 30-billion-peso ($625 million) shortfall in projected customs revenue—customs would go through the motions of having a reasonable argument while in fact having none at all.

Customs Undersecretary Espele Sales explained the government’s position to a group of frustrated booksellers and importers in an Orwellian PowerPoint presentation, at which she reinterpreted the Florence Agreement as well as Philippine law RA 8047, providing for “the tax and duty-free importation of books or raw materials to be used in book publishing.” For lack of a comma after the word “books,” the undersecretary argued that only books “used in book publishing” (her underlining) were tax-exempt.

“What kind of book is that?” one publisher asked me afterward. “A book used in book publishing.” And she laughed ruefully.

I thought about it. Maybe I should start writing a few. Harry the Cultural and Educational Potter and His Fondness for Baskerville Type.

Likewise, with the Florence Agreement, she argued that only educational books could be considered protected by the U.N. treaty. Customs would henceforth be the arbiter of what was and wasn’t educational.

“For 50 years, everyone has misinterpreted the treaty and now you alone have interpreted it correctly?” she was asked.

“Yes,” she told the stunned booksellers.

Throughout February and March, bookstores seemed on the verge of getting their books released—all their documents were in order, but the rules kept changing. Now they were told that all books would be taxed: 1 percent for educational books and 5 percent for noneducational books. A nightmare scenario for the distributors; they imagined each shipment being held for months as an examiner sorted through the books. Obviously, most would simply pay the higher tax to avoid the hassle.

Distributors told me they weren’t “capitulating” but merely paying under protest. After all, customs was violating an international treaty that had been abided by for over 50 years. Meanwhile, booksellers had to pay enormous storage fees. Those couldn’t be waived, they were told, because the storage facilities were privately owned (by customs officials, a bookstore owner suggested ruefully). One bookstore had to pay $4,000 on a $10,000 shipment.

The day after the first shipment of books was released, an internal memo circulated in customs congratulating themselves for finally levying a duty on books, though no mention was made of their pride in breaking an international treaty…”

Further commentary by Manuel L. Quezon III
The Long View: The Great Book Blockade of 2009
http://www.quezon.ph/2009/05/04/the-long-view-the-great-book-blockade-of-2009/

UPDATE!
http://pgenrestories.multiply.com/journal/item/815/The_Great_Book_Blockade_of_2009
Check the May 5 2009, 2:33pm post onwards.
Undersecretary Estela Sales airs her side.

MAY 12 UPDATE!
Manuel L. Quezon III gives a concise timeline of events from 1945 to the present.
http://www.quezon.ph/2009/05/10/the-great-book-blockade-of-2009-timeline-and-readings/

Comments

11 Responses to “The Great Philippine Book Blockade of 2009”

  1. Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » May 5, 2009: Hope fell on May 5th, 2009 5:00 pm

    [...] “In the last few months, the importation of books into the Philippines has virtually stopped.” [...]

  2. Reno on May 5th, 2009 6:10 pm

    Already copied and disseminated through email. Thanks for bringing this to everyone’s attention.

  3. ramon on May 5th, 2009 10:48 pm

    hey gerry, it’s ramon. just last weekend i got tatsumi’s a drifting life from fully booked, a fresh arrival from abroad (hadn’t even been shrink-wrapped yet), an april-published book, so i don’t know how extensive the non-arrival of imported books has been.

  4. Gerry Alanguilan on May 5th, 2009 11:04 pm

    Towards the end of the article (in the link), I think it mentioned that the books are coming in again, but only because the booksellers have caved in (under protest) and paid the taxes.

  5. melrose on May 6th, 2009 2:18 am

    “I hope sa 2010 elections, magbago na ang takbo ng Pilipinas. ang laki ng potential ng Philippines e. have you seen their campaign? buti pa si Usec Ace. check nyo campaign ng dept of tourism — http://www.awesomephilippines.ph
    “

  6. Nikki M. on May 6th, 2009 2:50 pm

    DAMN those CUSTOMS PEOPLE!

    I even heard they plan on taxing ALL books, not only the classic/cultural whatnot but the EDUCATIONAL books too!

    HOW IN THE WORLD ARE WE TO AFFORD OUR BOOKS IF THEY ADD UP TAXES!!??
    college tuition fee is already problem enough for our parents, and now this?

    It would only be a short time until the student body, and readers nationwide would cause an uproar!

    To HELL WITH THIS GOVERNMENT!

  7. Louie Aguinaldo on May 7th, 2009 9:01 am

    If you are on facebook please join the cause FILIPINOS AGAINST THE TAXATION OF BOOKS BY CUSTOMS ——-
    http://apps.facebook.com/causes/280535

    We hope to get popular support and hopefully get the attention of some lawmakers and government officials who are in facebook. Maybe some of them will champion this cause.

  8. Markus on May 7th, 2009 12:42 pm

    Now let us see who among the presedentiables are gonna do something about this! :D

  9. Internet451 » No books for Philippines on May 7th, 2009 2:01 pm

    [...] Komikero Comics Journal.) « God listens [...]

  10. Current » The Great Book Blockade of 2009: Timeline and Readings on May 10th, 2009 2:22 pm

    [...] twilight, Jarminator , Journal of the Jester-in-Exile, JessicarulestheUniverse, Karotitay.com , Komikero Comics Journal, Life is like a game of poker, Love and Choices, mzeid, Mnemosyne Writes, opinionated thoughts of a [...]

  11. The Great Book Blockade of 2009: Timeline and Readings : Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose on May 10th, 2009 3:25 pm

    [...] twilight, Jarminator , Journal of the Jester-in-Exile, JessicarulestheUniverse, Karotitay.com , Komikero Comics Journal, Life is like a game of poker, Love and Choices, mzeid, Mnemosyne Writes, opinionated thoughts of a [...]