Publishers lobby for tariff cuts, ease in book exports

CEBU, Philippines – The Asia Book Publishers Association is currently formulating a position paper to lobby for an easy flow of books exported to the Asian countries and to eradicate the taxes involved.

In an interview with Dominador Buhain, president of the organization, he said that this is to maximize the potential of exchanging instructional and references between countries in Asia.

Buhain, who is also the chairman of the 60-year-old educational material provider in the Philippines--Rex Bookstore, said that if the trade policy hindrances in exporting books to other countries will be ironed out, the Philippines has a huge potential to export these kinds of books to countries in Asia.

Part of the joint advocacy with other publishing companies in Asian countries is to clarify the existing policies in each nation, and providing training to authors in the changing environment of educational system.

Also, the group will consider the further development of co-authorship and partnership with publishing companies in a particular country.

The group of book publishers in Asia will also ascertain the demand for co-authorship, he said.

In fact, Rex Bookstore, which is largely popular in providing educational materials for privately managed schools and university, has established a subsidiary company called Rex Bookstore International (RBSI) for its growing export market.

RBSI is now providing educational materials to several countries, like Thailand, Indonesia, China as well as Jordan in the Middle East.

In China, Korea and Vietnam, Rex Bookstore is supplying co-published books for basic education requirement, such as in Science, and English.

He said the Filipino authors can leverage on providing these kinds of materials to other countries, because of their good teaching skills, specifically in English language.

While exporting of educational material, such as academic references is a promising business, especially if the joint advocacy will be heard by the respective governments, Buhain said the Philippines still offers good opportunity for growth, despite the growing number of players.

Today, there are 23 Rex Bookstore outlets, mostly warehouse type of outlets nationwide.

Last year, the company posted an average of 15 percent growth, as demand for educational materials largely from the private schools, universities and colleges increased.

While, there is a good opportunity for Book Publishers in the Philippines to take part in supplying to the public schools nationwide, Buhain said the industry players are hopeful that the Department of Education (DepEd) will strictly implement the R.A. 8047, otherwise known as the Book Publishing Industry Development Act.

The Act seeks to provide for the development of the book publishing industry through the formulation and implementation of a National Book Policy and National book development plan.

At present, Buhain claimed that there are only few players in the book publishing industry that were able to participate in the provision of educational materials to the all public schools in the country. (FREEMAN)