MGA NAGBABAGANG BALITA

5 tao na quarantine ngaun sa pinas!

wew.
how scary.

No More Newly Imported Books In The Philippines

Nabasa niyo na ba yung essay/balita tungkol dito? Ang magaling kasi nating gobyerno, pati ba naman libro pagkakaperahan pa.



Source ko: Philmug, hehe.

Here's an excerpt from Robin Hemley's article:

...Over coffee one afternoon, a book-industry professional (whom I can't identify) told me that for the past two months virtually no imported books had entered the country, in part because of the success of one book, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. The book, an international best seller, had apparently attracted the attention of customs officials. When an examiner named Rene Agulan opened a shipment of books, he demanded that duty be paid on it.

The importer of Twilight made a mistake and paid the duty requested. A mistake because such duty flies in the face of the Florence Agreement, a U.N. treaty that was signed by the Philippines in 1952, guaranteeing the free flow of "educational, scientific, and cultural materials" between countries and declaring that imported books should be duty-free. Mr. Agulan told the importer that because the books were not educational (i.e., textbooks) they were subject to duty. Perhaps they aren't educational, I might have argued, but aren't they "cultural"?

No matter. With this one success under their belt, customs curtailed all air shipments of books entering the country. Weeks went by as booksellers tried to get their books out of storage and started intense negotiations with various government officials.

What doubly frustrated booksellers and importers was that the explanations they received from various officials made no sense. It was clear that, for whatever reason—perhaps the 30-billion-peso ($625 million) shortfall in projected customs revenue—customs would go through the motions of having a reasonable argument while in fact having none at all.

Customs Undersecretary Espele Sales explained the government's position to a group of frustrated booksellers and importers in an Orwellian PowerPoint presentation, at which she reinterpreted the Florence Agreement as well as Philippine law RA 8047, providing for "the tax and duty-free importation of books or raw materials to be used in book publishing." For lack of a comma after the word "books," the undersecretary argued that only books "used in book publishing" (her underlining) were tax-exempt.

"What kind of book is that?" one publisher asked me afterward. "A book used in book publishing." And she laughed ruefully.

I thought about it. Maybe I should start writing a few. Harry the Cultural and Educational Potter and His Fondness for Baskerville Type.

Likewise, with the Florence Agreement, she argued that only educational books could be considered protected by the U.N. treaty. Customs would henceforth be the arbiter of what was and wasn't educational.

"For 50 years, everyone has misinterpreted the treaty and now you alone have interpreted it correctly?" she was asked.

"Yes," she told the stunned booksellers.

Throughout February and March, bookstores seemed on the verge of getting their books released—all their documents were in order, but the rules kept changing. Now they were told that all books would be taxed: 1 percent for educational books and 5 percent for noneducational books. A nightmare scenario for the distributors; they imagined each shipment being held for months as an examiner sorted through the books. Obviously, most would simply pay the higher tax to avoid the hassle.

Distributors told me they weren't "capitulating" but merely paying under protest. After all, customs was violating an international treaty that had been abided by for over 50 years. Meanwhile, booksellers had to pay enormous storage fees. Those couldn't be waived, they were told, because the storage facilities were privately owned (by customs officials, a bookstore owner suggested ruefully). One bookstore had to pay $4,000 on a $10,000 shipment.

The day after the first shipment of books was released, an internal memo circulated in customs congratulating themselves for finally levying a duty on books, though no mention was made of their pride in breaking an international treaty.

grrrr!!

komikon kahapon at si kuya manix ang "special guest" nainterview pa nga sa stage eh

waaah tagal ko na di nakalogin. :( hyper puyat sa work. sayang, di naaprub leave ko for komikon. hay. i have to wait another year..

balita





wew. mahaba habang bakasyon yan for sure!

pero hanggang abril ang school year pag natuloy yan aarrrhhhgggg!!

un lang!
badtrip!

The Philippine Department of Health (DOH) confirmed on Thursday night that the country already has a case of the dreaded Influenza A(H1N1) virus

ok din na i extend ang vacation natin

katamad pa pumasok eh

eh ayoko!
gusto ko
na grumaduate!

@parse miss ka ba naman ng school?
bwahaha peace parse!


HAYDEN && KATRINA HALILI's VIDEO SCANDAL!


wew badtrip ako sa news na ito
kasi naman simula ng nabalita toh
buong linggo na nasa balita.
mas may care pa sila dito kesa
sa dapat mas initindihin nila!

nakakasawa na yang mga videos na yan

pero come to think of it guys!
grabe mga ginawa ni hayden.
hindi lang si katrina yung ginawan niya
ng vid eh.
madami.
and i pity all those inosent ones.

ugei parse.
kaya mo yan!


pero etu naman!

EPAL NA NANAY NI HAYDEN KHO!

my god!
mgdadalawang linggo na tung balitang toh!