![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Great Book Blockade of 2009
May. 9th, 2009 07:17 pmRIDICULOUS, IGNORANT, AND SELF-SERVING. The Bureau of Customs is suddenly taxing imported books; for two months, there has almost been zero books coming in to the Philippines. Apparently, the popularity of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight caused it all. A customs official noted the sheer number of the said book being imported, that he demanded that taxes be imposed, so with other books.
In case they're forgetting, they are ignoring a U.N. treaty signed by the Philippines to allow the free trade of books, as they are "intellectual" and "cultural" artifacts, they facilitate peace as a result of free exchange of knowledge. Count on the notoriously corrupt Customs to bend this treaty to their will, and impose taxes because apparently, their pockets are becoming a little bit lighter due to the recession. Or perhaps because of election spending? I'm seriously getting goosebumps from the indignation I feel! As in ang kapal ng mukha nila! And there's this blogger who wrote that he had an experience with a customs official in the airport, read the full post here. He was coming home from a vacation, lugging around a full bag of new books. The customs official was quizzical and suspicious, asking what he did in the country he came from. The blogger said he was on a vacation. The custom official then asks something like, "Eh bakit ang dami niyong libro?" How come he has some books when he was on a vacation? WELL, DUH. Some people actually do like reading. I can't even express how that depresses me.
And I can't believe that they're really doing this. Taxing knowledge, and education--the government, in a sense, is discouraging people to read for the sake of "fattening the national purse", as Manuel Quezon III said in his blog. What else will they tax next? Customs Undersecretary Espele "a-book-used-in-publishing-are-the-only-
In case they're forgetting, they are ignoring a U.N. treaty signed by the Philippines to allow the free trade of books, as they are "intellectual" and "cultural" artifacts, they facilitate peace as a result of free exchange of knowledge. Count on the notoriously corrupt Customs to bend this treaty to their will, and impose taxes because apparently, their pockets are becoming a little bit lighter due to the recession. Or perhaps because of election spending? I'm seriously getting goosebumps from the indignation I feel! As in ang kapal ng mukha nila! And there's this blogger who wrote that he had an experience with a customs official in the airport, read the full post here. He was coming home from a vacation, lugging around a full bag of new books. The customs official was quizzical and suspicious, asking what he did in the country he came from. The blogger said he was on a vacation. The custom official then asks something like, "Eh bakit ang dami niyong libro?" How come he has some books when he was on a vacation? WELL, DUH. Some people actually do like reading. I can't even express how that depresses me.
And I can't believe that they're really doing this. Taxing knowledge, and education--the government, in a sense, is discouraging people to read for the sake of "fattening the national purse", as Manuel Quezon III said in his blog. What else will they tax next? Customs Undersecretary Espele "a-book-used-in-publishing-are-the-only-
More information under the cut.
