Busting the Bookblockade

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.

Remonde said Mrs. Arroyo directed Finance Secretary Margarito Teves to revoke Finance Department Order 17-09 which imposes duty on book importation.

“Secretary Teves said he will comply immediately,” he said.

Teves earlier said the BoC has yet to compute the revenues to be generated by the taxes.

Teves, however, said that revenue generation was not the main reason for the import duties but to clarify regulations on book imports as provided by the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines.

The UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines (UNACOM), led by secretary-general Ambassador Preciosa Soliven, said the imposition of taxes on books runs contrary to government efforts to promote reading among children and the youth.

“Taxing imported books is tantamount to taxing reading habits. At a time when parents and educators worldwide have expressed alarm on the continuing steep decline in the reading habits and practices especially among the young, the tax measure is counterproductive to current initiatives to rekindle a reading culture,” UNACOM said in a statement.

“The measure would surely further discourage young and even old minds from appreciating, recognizing and rediscovering the value of reading,” UNACOM said.

UNESCO in Paris, France was reportedly already aware of the controversy over the BoC’s imposing duties on imported books, a clear violation of a United Nations world pact forged in 1950 where countries agreed to exempt reading and cultural materials from import duties.

John Donaldson, UNESCO senior legal officer based in Paris, said the Philippines, as a party to the Florence Agreement, must respect the principle “Pacta sunt servanda (Pacts must be respected).”

“This fundamental principle of the law of treaties, enshrined in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969, provides that treaties in force are binding upon the parties and must be performed in good faith,” Donaldson said.

“It follows that if the Philippines decides to apply custom duties or other charges on the importation of materials coming from another State Party, and for which the Florence Agreement foresees an exemption, it will be in breach of its obligations under this Agreement,” he said.

UNACOM said the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs-Office of Legal Affairs submitted that DO No. 17-09 issued by the Department of Finance was “contrary to the Philippines’ obligations under the UNESCO Florence Agreement and is inconsistent with its principle of free exchange of ideas and knowledge.”

Source: Philstar.com

Oh yeah, and an update on Rock Ed Philippines’ Book Bigayan 2009. From the looks of it, it went swimmingly well.

CHEERS ALL AROUND!

Senators and Neil Gaiman on the Book Blockade of 2009

THIS JUST IN:

NEIL GAIMAN helped spread the word on the Great Book Blockade of 2009.

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An update on why there will be no more newly imported books in the Philippines.
Related link: The people’s response.

By Aurea Calica  Updated May 14, 2009 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines – Senators questioned yesterday the Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) “book blockade,’’ saying it could do more harm than good even if it intends to raise more revenues.

Senators Edgardo Angara, Manuel Roxas II and Richard Gordon joined Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago in questioning the BOC’s move to impose taxes on imported books.

They said the government must promote reading and make it a part of every Filipino’s lifestyle rather than make books more inaccessible.

Angara said reading and publishing must flourish in the country.

“Books play an integral part in a country’s intellectual, technical and cultural development. They are the most effective and economical tools for achieving educational growth, imparting information and recording, preserving, and disseminating the nation’s cultural heritage. Unfortunately, only few of the books in our libraries and bookstores are local publications,” Angara said.

The Philippines has the lowest output of book titles compared to neighbors in Southeast Asia. Statistics released by the Philippine National Library showed that the number of books published since 2000 averages 5,326.5 a year.

Roxas asked Finance Secretary Margarito Teves to explain the new BOC policy, which has sparked complaints from book importers and sellers.

One percent duty is being collected for educational, technical, scientific, historical and cultural books and five percent for books/materials which are non-educational and intended for sale, barter or hire.

Roxas said Teves should shed light on the implementation of Department of Finance Order No. 17-09 dated March 24, 2009 which also clarified guidelines on duty-free importation of books allowed under existing laws and international agreements.

“We have received reports that the new Department Order has imposed a more stringent policy on importing books in our country, therefore restricting and discouraging booksellers and importers.”

Roxas also sent a letter to National Book Development Board chairman Dennis Gonzalez and requested the agency’s position on the implementation of the DOF order.

Gordon said the imposition of taxes on imported books would hinder the flow of knowledge and ideas by making these educational materials less accessible to the people.

The Philippines is a signatory to the 1950 Florence Agreement, a United Nations treaty that mandates the tax-free importation of books to facilitate the free flow of educational, scientific, and cultural materials.

Source: Philstar.com

Heads up from MLQ3

BOOKBIGAYAN 2009

(The public’s response to The Great Book Blockade of 2009)

WE AIN’T TAXIN’ BOOKS HERE

We give ‘em away –for FREE!

Bring your used/old books too if you want to share. Let’s gather again at our Sunday Silent spot to give away books to anyone who wants ‘em. Bring your family and your family dog.

[Information filched from abashet]

No More Newly Imported Books in the Philippines – the Reason Why

I am PISSED. I do not devour books by any means but what the Customs have done is just plain filthy in my eyes. I sure hope it’s the hormones because this is upsetting me far more than anything I’ve encountered. If you are a bookworm, bookphile, bookmaniac, bookfanatic, or just read ONE book that you’ve loved ever since, you need to read this and pass it on.

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In the last few months, the importation of books into the Philippines has virtually stopped. 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, the essence is that 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.

Here’s an excerpt from Robin Hemley’s article:

…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.

UPDATE and more details at MLQIII’s blog.

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“Customs would henceforth be the arbiter of what was and wasn’t educational. “
What the FUCK would they know about things of educational value? Who the FUCK are they to say what does and does not contribute to the education and expansion of one’s mind? These motherfucking custom officials have really hit close to home. They can be arbiters of SHIT if they want to, not books. These fucktards are KNOWINGLY stopping distribution of “educational, scientific, and cultural materials”. The only reason that they’re in it is because they realize the shitload of money they can rip off people. They can’t see anything BUT money. They are fucking breaking a motherfucking international treaty for godssakes! *$%#)!@_()!@*#)#%*&$%)#) I just really want to open fire on each and every single one of those bastards who think they’re getting one up on the people. I am no virgin to how corrupt the government can be but they have messed with something very near and dear to my heart. THERE WILL BE BLOOD.

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UPDATE:

The Public’s response to The Great Book Blockade,

BOOKBIGAYAN2009