An Open Letter To The Congress Of The Philippines...

...On Taxes, Duties, And Fees On Books (seen over at Filipino Voices). An excerpt:

So I did what any person of the 21st Century would do. I googled the said laws. In my search, I found these salient points.

(I am neither lawyer nor do I aspire to be one so pardon me, If I get my terms mixed up)

1) The Tariff and Customs Laws of the Philippines section 105 on Conditionally Free Importations, subsection s says:

Philosophical, historical, economic, scientific, technical and vocational books specially imported for the bona fide use and by the order of any society or institution, incorporated or established solely for philosophical, educational, scientific, charitable or literary purposes, or for the encouragement of the fine arts, or for the bona fide use of and by the order of any institution of learning in the Philippines: Provided, That the provisions of this subsection shall apply to books not exceeding two copies of any one work when imported by any individual for his own use, and not for barter, sale or hire. Bibles, missals, prayerbooks, koran, ahadith and other religious books of similar nature and extracts therefrom, hymnal and hymns for religious uses, specially prepared books, music and other instrumental aids for the deaf, mute or blind, and textbooks prescribed for use in any school in the Philippines: Provided, That complete books published in parts in periodical form shall not be classified herein.

2) 30 Years ago, on 7 August 1979, the Philippines became a signatory to the United Nations (UNESCO) Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials which says that:

Contracting States undertake not to apply customs duties or other charges on, or in connection with, the importation of books, publications and documents; educational, scientific and cultural materials.

3) The National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 Section 109, “Exempt Transactions”; subsection q and y respectively:

(q) Transactions which are exempt under international agreements to which the Philippines is a signatory or under special laws, except those under Presidential Decree Nos. 66, 529 and 1590;

(y) Sale, importation, printing or publication of books and any newspaper, magazine review or bulletin which appears at regular intervals with fixed prices for subscription and sale and which is not devoted principally to the publication of paid advertisements;

What is made clear by Manolo Quezon’s column is that:

The point, of course, is that no such exemption is even called for. No taxes on imported books are supposed to be assessed. The government supposedly scrapped a policy that was illegal in the first place, and then tried to appear responsive to public opinion. Its too-late-the-hero posturing already gypped many citizens during the time finance and customs levied the illegal book tax; and citizens continue to be gypped by customs assessors in various post offices.

This time around, since the commercial bookstores are still in the clear, it doesn’t look like any official will take up the cudgels for the consumer, whose existence was studiously ignored by the DOF in the first place. So if the book tax is to be truly eliminated, citizens will have to get together with fellow citizens and organize themselves.

As a citizen, I interpret these three things to mean: that the Government of the Philippines can not charge:

1. customs duties on imported books and similar material,
2. fees associated with books and,
3. Value Added Tax.

Often, a citizen such as myself lament how broken our nation is. The Great Book Blockade is not a scandal of an official stealing from the treasury. It isn’t a scandal in the sense that an official of the government would spend an exuberant amount on food or travel. The Great Book Blockade is neither sexy nor newsworthy for many people.

The reality is that the Great Book Blockade is a scandal. The Philippines is breaking international law and that a country that values education so heavily as our culture and society does, can so easily make it difficult for its citizens to enrich themselves and disregard the value of reading.

Perhaps it is a misunderstanding of what education and what intelligence means.

Click here to read the whole entry.