Words without Borders

The National Book Development Board believes that the promotion of lifelong learning through readership leads to genuine human development, national poverty reduction, and book industry development in the medium to long terms.
We live in a world of words, words that work and don’t work, words that matter & don’t. Words in books can cross safely and become active beyond the borders of time and space, especially if leaders & policy-makers will continue to adhere to the UNESCO principle & the 1950 Florence Agreement on the free flow of information & knowledge.
Also, words and books that endure and spread are products usually of substantial investments in time, effort & resources on the part of creative persons and entrepreneurs. To develop authorship and the creative sector, the NBDB initiated and guided the enactment into law of the National Book Development Trust Fund to support through annual grants Philippine authorship in science and technology and other learning areas where more Philippine publications are needed.

For the very first set of Trust Fund grants, the NBDB received a total of 24 applications from budding & veteran authors. For our upcoming Book Development Month celebration this November, at least 3 deserving authors will receive grants of a minimum of 200,000 pesos each for submissions under the categories of the English Novel, Health & Wellness, and Environment & Biodiversity including Climate Change Adaptation. As the interest of the Trust Fund grows, a bigger number of grants over a wider set of categories can be given next year.
Like government support for authors, the book industry has improved through the years. The private sector has been the main driver of industry growth. Government has not been & should not be the main driver, but certainly government has the important role of preserving and enhancing the environment for healthy competition and growth in a book market with domestic and foreign players.
Through the years, I have been privileged to witness how the Philippine book industry has grown. With the spread of the digital revolution, I am confident that the fundamentals of our book industry have become solid & strong enough to meet the challenges and to grasp the opportunities of this revolution.

May we see book readership & book development in the coming years flourishing with more Philippine publications in printed & electronic forms that cross the borders of time and space, more books that contribute to lifelong learning, books that help us live with more wisdom, joy, or peace so that, whenever we turn to the book of day-to-day life, we do better in enriching its pages with trustworthy words and meaningful works, words and works that cross the boundaries of ignorance, indifference and intolerance.

A Law for Authors

Philippine authors and publishers and the reading public have great reason to celebrate.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has just signed into law the National Book Development Trust Fund To Support Philippine Authorship after both Houses of the 14th Congress have passed Republic Act 9521. A milestone piece of legislation in local book development authored by Iloilo City Rep. Raul T. Gonzalez Jr., Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, Marikina City Rep. Del De Guzman, and co-authored by several members of the House as well as Senators Edgardo Angara, Allan Peter Cayetano, and Jinggoy Estrada, this law will provide authors from all regions of the country a reasonable amount to complete their manuscripts for publication.

This law will benefit veteran and promising authors working or researching on topics in which local books are either few or non-existent. There are many subject areas in which local books are insufficient in number and variety, and most of the books in our libraries and bookstores are foreign publications.

According to data gathered by the National Book Development Board, the United Kingdom exported £2.23 million (around Php 155 million) worth of books to the Philippines in 2007. The United States exported US$18.89 million worth of books to this country in the same year. Total US book export to the Philippines in 2008 (US$19.20M) was bigger than its book exports to New Zealand (US$12M), Malaysia (US$9.95M), Thailand (US$10.10M), Taiwan (US$15.06M) and Hong Kong (US$18.88M).

With its enactment into law, a Trust Fund of Php 150 million will be established within a period of one year, and the interest from the Fund will provide annually at least fifty (50) grants to authors in all regions in order to spur creativity and support the completion of local manuscripts or research works for publication.

The NBDB shall be the administrator of the Fund and shall appoint a government financial institution as portfolio manager, subject to guidelines and decision-making mechanisms promulgated by the NBDB.

The Trust Fund will assist authors to produce books especially on science and technology, local history, indigenous children’s stories, and translations of classic works into local languages. This will motivate and support veteran and budding authors to produce new titles or complete their manuscripts.

The first Book Trust Fund bills were filed by Deputy Speaker Raul M. Gonzalez and Senator Loren Legarda in the 12th Congress in 2003.

We thank the President for her competent and active appointees to the NBDB, viz. Executive Director Atty. Andrea Pasion Flores, Dep. Exec. Dir. Frances Jeanne Sarmiento, and Governing Board members DTI Usec. Elmer Hernandez, NCCA Chair Vilma Labrador, DOST Asec. Malou Orijola, CHED Commissioner Nona Ricafort, UP Vice-President Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, Ateneo Professor Queena Lee Chua, and publishers Alegria Limjoco, Alfredo Ramos, and Roland Robles.

The NBDB hopes that the next President in 2010 will also appoint competent and responsible members of the Governing Board who shall be the ones who shall award the initial grants from the interest of the Trust Fund for Philippine authors.