Note: Root source of write-up unknown to Greater Good Philippines.
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.
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