Binay, Santiago scrutinize taxation of books; readers react

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago and Makati City mayor Jejomar Binay have given their reactions to the issue that hit the Philippines after writer Robert Hemley's "The Great Book Blockade of 2009" was published on the McSweeney's website.

Meyers's vampires at fault?

In McSweeney's column Dispatches From Manila, Hemley, director of the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa , brought to light an issue that lit a fuse among Filipino readers and book buyers. He said that the decision of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to impose duties on books imported to the Philippines began with the release of Stephanie Meyer's book series Twilight . "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." he said. Bookstores in the Philippines were informed that they would be charged 1 percent tax for educational books and 5 percent for non-educational books.

"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." said Hemley.

This is a dangerous threat to bookstores in the Philippines. The effect of the taxation would be higher costs for imported books. The distributors would have to pay a higher amount, and importations will have to go through a tedious process before the books arrive. In effect, Filipino readers' access to imported books will be more restricted. Santiago, on the other hand, argued that the BOC has misinterpreted the law and said that "the Florence Agreement provides that the contracting states undertake not to apply Customs duties or other charges on, or in connection with, the importation of books, publications, and documents." She has advised the Senate to probe on this issue. "The Philippines is bound by this treaty under the principle of pacta sund servanda. This simply means that every treaty in force is binding upon the parties to it and must be performed by them in good faith," she said.

Go after smugglers instead

Mayor Binay, who supports an online campaign against the BOC decision, said that "the (BOC) should go after smugglers and plug the losses. They should get their priorities straight and for me, collecting P140 billion in lost tariffs and taxes should be their priority. They are either neglectful of their duty or they tolerate smuggling." He added that "by zeroing in on imported books, the BOC is resorting to a method that would require the least effort on their part, while jeopardizing the country's book development program."

The issue has spread on the internet, and comments in the blogosphere continue to proliferate. There is already a Facebook group called "Filipinos against the taxation of books by customs." The cause page was made "to express our protest against the hindering of the flow of knowledge and ideas through the taxation on imported books by Philippine Bureau of Customs." 1,861 people joined the group within 24 hours of its conception, and as of now it has 8,825 members.

Bookworms' two cents

Marla Cabanban, a graphic artist who would paper her walls with pages of the literary greats if only ripping pages out books didn't hurt her heart so much, says that "it's already common knowledge that customs is one of the most corrupt institutions the country has seen. Everyone has their own story, from having their Macbook pros confiscated for no good reason to relatives of customs officials being invited to take their pick from the 'loot' wrongfully confiscated from airports. What I find disgusting and appalling is how these officials are shameless enough to twist the laws to suit their wants without even trying to hide it. It's their way or the highway and you're an idiot if you let something this blatantly obvious slide."

Literature major and freelance writer Fatima Potenciano says, "I think that the book blockade is one of the stupidest things the government has done. To put a price on knowledge just because some individuals wanted to milk the Twilight phenomenon for all it's worth is the last straw."

Freelance writer Migi de Belen comments: "Being a former literature major, I was at first saddened by the news. Then again I realised that most of my reading material was either borrowed or photocopied anyway, simply because some books are extremely hard to find in the Philippines and the most practical way to get them was via contacts from abroad."

Re-interpretation of the Florence Agreement

The BOC said that their decision is based on the Book Publishing Industry Development Act (Republic Act 8047), which grants "tax and duty-free importation of books or raw materials to be used in book publishing." According to Hemley's dispatch, Customs Undersecretary Espele Sales argued that "only books 'used in book publishing' (her underlining) were tax-exempt." After wondering what exactly a "book used in publishing" is, Hemley said, "I thought about it. Maybe I should start writing a few. Harry the Cultural and Educational Potter and His Fondness for Baskerville Type."

"The Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) are the agencies that determine if the imported articles are economic, technical, vocational scientific, philosophical and historical books." reported philstar.com. BOC Deputy Commissioner Alexander Arevalo said that the people who are protesting against this taxation issue should go to the Senate or the House of Representatives. He also suggested that readers should approach either DepEd or CHED if they want their favorite books to be included in the exempted list.

He said "that the BOC could not do anything about it at this time. "

Photos by Ofelia T. Sta. Maria.

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