Or something to that effect.
I haven't been visiting bookstores lately. Or the few times I had I never really purchased much except for a handful of pens and folders (uh, my favorite bookstore comes with the school and office supplies, hahaha). But yes, I noticed that the same books are on the shelves. I've been meaning to browse through
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies physically but it seems it's not yet available here (but I could be wrong there).
Then I got an email and learned that crafty people from the Bureau of Customs here in the Philippines decided to impose duties on imported books apparently since two months back. This despite the fact that
The Florence Treaty of 1950 is and has been in effect in this country for decades.
But now importers are in a bind because hey, the mighty and powerful Bureau of Customs interpreted the treaty differently after seeing what, huge boxes of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series and probably computed in their heads possible huge duties if such were imposed on them. Five percent is a lot, really. And really, booksellers won't have much of a heart and not think of passing off the fees to the consumers eventually, right?
Checks and balances, people!
Ah well. Better read the posts below. They are better written and what I post here mostly came as an offshoot from reading them:
Manuel L. Quezon IIIThe Trojan BoreThe UnlawyerTimothy McSweeney's Internet TendencyAnd if you're from the Philippines or if you're Filipino, if you love to read, if you care about laws being faithfully executed please spread the world. Lest our bookstores keep the same stock for years and years. Or minimize their imports because hey, duties are expensive.
What would happen to our country if bookstores close down? Moreso if only the rich can afford books? As it is only the rich and the middle-class buy books. Of course the craftier ones don't buy books, be they rich or poor. They're just uh, crafty.
