SPEECH ON
BOOK PUBLISHING IN GENERAL
By: ATTY. DOMINADOR D. BUAHIN
Central Luzon State University, Muñoz,
Nueva Ecija, September 1999
Introduction
It is my pleasure to be standing today in front of excellent people who are involved in edifying the Filipino youth through education. As a publisher, it has always been my mission in life to safeguard the cause of education by producing high caliber textbooks and making sure these get into the classrooms all over the country at the most affordable medium. To ensure quality education is my moral obligation as it is also yours.
I am happy to be among an audience of teachers, members of the faculty, representatives from the academe, writers and representatives from the publishing industry. We may differ in our vocation but nonetheless everyday we give a little of ourselves to the Filipino studentry by exercising and applying our craft and expertise in the institution wherein we may be connected with. Indeed, this is a worthy cause and this is the reason why I feel privileged to discuss with you today a profile of the country’s book publishing industry in general.
Brief History of Publishing
The Philippine book publishing industry is relatively young considering that it was only recently that the State has considered it a priority industry. In fact, it was only this year that the government specifically mentions book publishing as a priority expansion sector In its Investments Priorities Plan.
During the Spanish regime, books published were mostly dictionaries, grammars, and religious instructions to teach the Catholic faith. Authorship was wholly non-Filipino. The first book manufactured in the country was the Doctorina Cristiana and the first printing press was set up in Manila in 1602.
The advent of the American rule gave impetus to publishing. Filipino writers had their work in English within 20 years after the coming of the Americans. The first educational publishing firm was established in 1926.
After WWII, more Filipinos went into textbook publishing and in 1958, the Philippine Educational Publishers Association (PEPA) was organized to meet the challenges of educational book publishing in the country. Books were now written by Filipinos for the Filipinos.
A major impact in the publishing business was the advent of the government textbook project. The World Bank-funded project (1976-1982) constituted the largest publishing activity undertaken in the country. Close to 36 million copies were released to the 40,000 schools all over the country then.
The sector that suffered the most from this project was the private publishers since the government ceased to buy textbooks from them. PEPA denounced it as government interference in an activity that should be left to private publishers. The Textbook Project established a government monopoly of textbook publishing in the public schools.
In 1982, the IMC or Instructional Materials Corporation was created. The education minister decided to phase out Textbook Project grants and declared a policy of open competition in textbook adoption. However, it was observe by then Congressman Carlos Padilla that the local publishing industry had been adversely affected by the virtual monopoly of textbook publishing of the IMC. This was premised on the fact that 70 percent of local book publishing consisted of textbooks and general references and that the IMC is supplying in its entirely the public schools students’ requirements equivalent to 95 percent of the elementary and 52 percent of the secondary students’ population. The private publishers were left with only 5 percent of the elementary and 48 of the secondary students’ population.
PEPA kept the fight which in later years bore fruit and saw the breaking up iof the virtual monopoly.
A quiet renaissance in Philippine Publishing was seen in the 1990s. Not only did the new decade see more published books written by Filipinos but there were also more kinds of books being produced locally like self-help manuals, suspense novels, original romances, cookbooks, political analysis, spiritual inspirations, sex education, scholarly and popular studies, essays, poetry and children’s stories both in English and Filipino.
1996: The Book Publishing Industry Act
The passage of the Book Publishing Industry Act or Republic Act No. 8047 in 1996 is a milestone in the industry’s history. This resulted to a considerable increase in the total book production in the country. 3,770 titles were produced in 1996 and 5,093 in 1997 or a 35% increase. And the number is expected to soar continually as incentives have been provided not only to publishers but also to writers.
1999: The National Book Policy
1999 is an important year for the industry. It is in this year that the very first National Book Policy was approved and adopted by the Estrada Administration. This Policy is a statement of the intention and guidelines of the State as a basis for the formulation and implementation of measures for the development, production, and distribution of books.
The Policy objectives among others that shall outright redound to the improvement of the industry include: (1) to establish conditions conducive to the development and production of books, (2) to promote book readership by putting up an efficient nationwide system of libraries and reading centers especially in the rural areas; and (3) to promote the effective distribution of books in the domestic and international markets through an efficient and reliable postal and transportation delivery system.
The policy also incubates the philosophy of decentralization. The over concentration of publishing and book selling activities in Metro Manila and similar emerging urban communities must be broken by providing incentives for the book publishers and book sellers to initiate or expand their operations to the regional and provincial levels. Whatever educational and publishing excellence that exist in Metro Manila should spill throughout the provinces down to the remotest of places. At the same time, the excellence in the provinces must flourish and reach the urban areas.
Concentration in Metro Manila has not only retarded and comprised the potentials of the industry at the regional levels, but has also impeded access to quality books. Decentralization will allow for (1) freer access to books, (2) economic growth, (3) a greater industry participation, (4) additional employment opportunities, and (5) increased consciousness with inherent cultures in the regions.
Private sector initiative
The Government has laid the burden of having these plans and guidelines implemented on the shoulders of the private stakeholders. Any major policy shift goes through a process of consultation with private publishers and distributors. For this reason, the future of the book publishing industry in the Philippines shall lie mainly on the private sector initiative. The role played by the Government is mostly supportive to development and not plainly as a regulatory agency.
Book societies
Another significant development in the industry is the emergence of the Philippine Book Development Federation or the Philbook is a conglomeration of book associations in the country which aims to pool and unify all private sector initiatives to foster the continuing growth and development of the industry.
Of the various initiatives of the Philbook, the Book Fair it spearheaded is perhaps one of the most significant thus far. The said fair held various seminars including the crucial discussion on (1) the Reproduction Rights Organizations, (2) Electronic Book Publishing, and (3) Paju Book City of Korea. Foreign resource persons of Asia-Pacific Publishers Associations shed light to the above concerns.
Besides the Philbook, other book societies have also started sprouting in the provinces. Book society representations from the Visayas and Mindanao are present with the National Book Development Board and to similar publishing activities such as this.
Intellectual Property Rights
The growth and viability of the book publishing industry also depend to a large measure on the ability of governments and institutions to extend protection to intellectual property rights (IPR). It seems that most Developing Countries do not take extra measure in protecting the intellectual rights of its people. The Philippine is not an exemption. Students belonging to the lower strata of society would rather photocopy textbooks than buy them. Infringement and illegal reproduction of materials continue to go on unchecked. This practice not only strips the right of writers and publishers but also hampers any marketing and distribution scheme for books, thus, obstructing the optimal growth of the industry.
There is now an active move to form a Philippine Reproduction Rights Organization (PRRO) which shall ensure a wider coverage and compensation for intellectual property rights. 35 local publishers have signified their intention to affiliate and contribute to the success of the PRRO. With the leadership of the Book Board, the PRRO is hoped to take its form before the year ends.
The industry is becoming more and more conscious to the need of protecting the intellectual rights of Filipino writers here and abroad. Just the other day, a conference on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) was held at the Institute of Legal Studies at the University of the Philippines. I was tasked during this conference to report on the prospects of the publishing industry in the international market.
International market
Philippine publishers are now seriously looking at the potentials of the international market. With the help of the Asian Pacific Publishers Association (APPA), Filipino-authored publications had been showcased for five years now at the Tokyo International Book Fair and this year at the Australian International Book Fair and the Frankfurt International Book Fair. Purchase of rights and contracts for exclusive distributorships for those publications have definitely commenced, thus encouraging the production of globally-competitive publications.
As a result of these exhibitions in international book fairs, international distributors have taken interest in Filipino books. Initial product negotiations on distribution rights that took place in Frankfurt are now the subject of ongoing discussion between the distributors and the Philippine publishers represented by the NBDB at the start. These developments gave rise to the organization of the Book Exporters Association of the Philippines or the BEAP.
Organized just recently with 38 founding publisher-members, the BEAP hopes of penetrating the international arena and taking on the challenges of globalization.
Local book publishing-related programs
As moves in catapulting the Filipino talent worldwide is taking place, it is good to remember that charity begins at home. Local book publishing-related programs continue to saturate the country. There is an ongoing program to heighten the literacy rate of the Filipino masses and to generate an increase love and propensity for book readership. This is one of the ways by which market for books will be enlarged. A multilateral groupings of concerned government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have bonded themselves into an effective implementing arm and have called the group LIBRO. The Literacy and Book Readership Organization or LIBRO for short is aptly named as its objective is to make books an endearing commodity to the common Filipino.
LIBRO has started the drafting of concrete measures or readership programs that shall be implemented throughout the country. Steps for the solicitation of the required funding to execute the same have also been initiated.
The number of local bookfairs in the Philippines is also increasing. This is a recognition of the growing and the active role of the industry in the national scene. What used to be held only in Metro Manila is now being replicated in other parts of the country and the number of participants keep on growing.
Again, in the name of decentralization, adequate government support and attention is being given to the development of book publishing in all 16 regions of the country. Although presently, publishing activities take place mostly in the central region or in Metro Manila, training programs on human resource developments are regularly conducted in preparation for the eventual need as a consequence of regional expansion.
The NBDB and the private sector, notably the Philippine Educational Publishers Association (PEPA), together with the Book Development Association of the Philippines (BDAP) and the Association of Philippine Booksellers (APB) are in harmony in bringing about the skills transfer throughout the regions.
In order to improve reading habits among Filipinos, pro-active steps must be taken in eradicating functional illiteracy. Towards this end, PEPA has joined hands with the League of Municipalities of the Philippines to donate reading materials to the various libraries as well as to put up libraries in remote places where there are none. Also, LIBRO, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports’ (DECS) Non-formal Division and the Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC) are actively performing their respective shares in the upliftment of literacy;
Aside from libraries and reading centers, there must also be a need to put up more bookstores nationwide. Book stores may be encouraged to be put up in other localities through the grant of privileges like attractive discounts. The local industry in fact is seriously considering the adoption of the Retail-Price-Maintenance Scheme to bring about stability in prices and to prevent cut-throat competition. Said scheme is being adopted in Japan, Korea, Germany and in other progressive countries.
Conclusion
The above-mentioned advances are only a few of the book-publishing related activities progressing all over the country. These have been enumerated and cited for everyone to have at least a glimpse of the total scenario that indeed the publishing industry in the country is alive and kicking.
To my good friends here in Nueva Ecija who are involved in anyway in the development of the book publishing industry, it is my hope that you continue the fight in this part of the country. Not a fight against tyranny or against any person who threatens to change our Constitution but a fight against illiteracy in the country and mediocrity in the industry. It is our hope that we be more responsive to the educational needs of our people. Let us also see to it the next steps in publishing shall not be monopolized or yet lead solely by Metro Manila publishers alone but by stake holders and players in the book industry from all over the country, especially the rest of Luzon.