UPDATE II: Marvic Leonen, Dean of UP Law School is going to be filing a legal case and needs all the evidence he can get. If you have a receipt from the post office or customs, which proves that they asked you to pay tax for books imported from abroad, please gather them up and send an email to chingbee(dot)cruz(at)gmail(dot)com [source]

UPDATE: Dennis Gonzalez, NBDB Chairman writes about the blockade as being illogical and illegal.

Reading this today made my blood boil. Let me quote:

The treaty has provided for duty-free importation of books to guarantee the free flow of “educational, scientific, and cultural materials” between countries and declared that imported books should be duty-free.

But Sales reportedly brushed off this argument, saying novels and reading books are “not educational.”

The imposition of duties on foreign books has caused book importers to reconsider future importations due to higher importation costs for the books.

If there is truth in her unbridled statement, then I fear that all my life, I have wasted my time reading books, thinking that I would have received what she apparently does not see as “education.” Let me show you what the Bureau of Customs sees as non-educational:

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We literally have thousands of books scattered across the house (oh, some of those books in the photos actually belong to this guy). We have one room that was fabricated to house the family collection, which will be inherited by my children’s children’s children. And so on. The prized collection includes annals of National Geographic, Reader’s Digest and original silver age comics from Marvel and DC which my dad bound into several volumes.

But apparently, these are all worthless in developing the human character: BOC’s Sales says books are non educational.

I wrote an update for The Blog Herald — the Philippine blogosphere uses Twitter and David Archuleta’s media clout to voice the ire over the Great Book Blockade.

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You have 25 Responses

  1. I drool at your sequential art stuff.

    How dare she say the X-Men are not educational! I learned a few Russian and German words from the X-Men! Also, the word “megalomaniac”.

    2. Baddie on May 11th, 2009 at 12:15 am

  2. Booo to BOC! No wonder the books I want are always out of stock! :-(

    3. Sexy Nomad on May 11th, 2009 at 12:34 am

  3. [...] taking my cue from Jayvee’s post, I want to express my indignation at what Espela Sales’ “palusot” regarding the [...]

    4. On book blockage and the Filipino brain | bury me in this dress on May 11th, 2009 at 4:41 am

  4. How infuriating!!!

    5. CaliCat on May 11th, 2009 at 9:45 am

  5. Stupid BOC bureaucrat…

    6. CCLozano on May 11th, 2009 at 11:40 am

  6. [...] is not to imagine the disappointment and rage this can/has caused. And it is also not difficult to imagine the debate and protest this has [...]

    7. The Book Blockade: Questions and Repercussions « 1ReAd2: books, comics etc etc on May 11th, 2009 at 1:14 pm

  7. Obviously the BOC and Ms. Sales are only after money and are truly uneducated.

    8. Angel on May 11th, 2009 at 2:28 pm

  8. I swear, that news is really making me want to break stuff. *grumble*

    9. Tina on May 11th, 2009 at 9:52 pm

  9. [...] is not to imagine the disappointment and rage this can/has caused. And it is also not difficult to imagine the debate and protest this has [...]

    10. The Book Blockade: Questions and Repercussions – DilisMedia on May 11th, 2009 at 10:38 pm

  10. [...] a roundup of bloggers who’ve blogged about the issue: 1Read2, Ang Tambayan ni Paeng, A Bugged Life, andrewdrilon, Animetric’s World, Bahay Talinhaga, Bet.cha.by.golly.world., Bibliophile [...]

    11. The Great Book Blockade of 2009: Timeline and Readings : Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose on May 12th, 2009 at 10:22 am

  11. how dumb of her to say that!

    12. ivy on May 12th, 2009 at 10:45 am

  12. When I get back into the gym tomorrow, I’ll remember that name when I hit the heavy bags :)

    I’m sorry – her comment fills me with so much rage.

    NERD RAGE!

    13. Twin-Skies on May 12th, 2009 at 2:08 pm

  13. I guess they aren’t readers.

    Sigh sigh sigh.

    14. toni on May 12th, 2009 at 2:23 pm

  14. stupid! plainly moronic view. i bet, this guy was educated on error-filled books fed to him by the department of education.

    15. elmot on May 12th, 2009 at 2:51 pm

  15. Hit her with a book – let’s see if she doesn’t learn to shut her mouth.

    16. Luis Cruz on May 12th, 2009 at 4:54 pm

  16. well, just like a non-blogger despising a blogger, he’s obviously not a book worm or might as well haven’t read any books himself. education can be achieved in many fronts, even outside the confines of school.

    17. Jim on May 14th, 2009 at 10:28 am

  17. …whoever said that books are non-educational MUST be ILLITERATE….

    18. South park on May 14th, 2009 at 12:07 pm

  18. Her name should have been suspicious enough as it sounds like sales, meaning things sold. meaning money that can be had. :D

    And people here lament the declining lack of English proficiency skills…! No wonder, if good books are not being allowed in! >.<

    19. Alexis on May 14th, 2009 at 5:37 pm

  19. [...] love books, please help us cross market the #bookblockade hashtag to let the world know about the stupidity of Espele Sales. You can keep track of the conversation through http://www.search.twitter.com and keying in the [...]

    20. #bookblockade — well, many thanks to David Archuleta’s media clout | Jayvee Fernandez on Technology and New Media in the Philippines on May 14th, 2009 at 5:53 pm

  20. [...] was reading Jayvee’s blog when I stumbled upon this post. Apparently, Finance Usec Espele Sales believes, and I quote, “novels and reading books are [...]

    21. Finance Undersecretary Espele Sales WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!? | Carlo Ople on May 14th, 2009 at 6:48 pm

  21. [...] Espele Sales: “Books are non-educational” – by Jayvee Fernandez [...]

    22. The Great Book Blockade of 2009 « Refine Me on May 14th, 2009 at 11:14 pm

  22. Jayvee please come to the great book trade on Sunday sa Baywalk. More info here. http://gangbadoy.multiply.com/photos/album/130/WE_AINT_TAXIN_BOOKS_HERE

    23. Gang Badoy on May 19th, 2009 at 9:55 am

  23. Either that Espele Sales is the most stupidest person on the planet OR the greediest.

    It’s already certain that she is a classic, philistine.

    24. Palatyne on May 22nd, 2009 at 3:57 am

  24. [...] found out about the UNESCO’s official reply to the book blockade issue this afternoon. Looking for the document on the Internet (it was easy — just Google the first [...]

    25. UNESCO replies to the Philippine Book Blockade | Jayvee Fernandez on Technology and New Media in the Philippines on May 24th, 2009 at 10:57 pm

  25. She is ignored. Just cant take it

    26. srhn on July 29th, 2009 at 6:27 pm

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