For foreign donors

PLS. coordinate with the Philippine Embassy/Consulates in your respective areas and the Dept. of Social Welfare and Development for your donations. Click here for the procedures you have to follow to make sure your donations get to the right recipients.

Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Gary Teves yesterday released a public advisory via text saying: "the Bureau of Customs (BOC) is now coordinating with the DSWD for the immediate release of used clothes donation from international institutions for the typhoon Ondoy victims. International organizations are advised to donate used clothes directly to DSWD as existing laws (RA 4653) prohibit the importation of used clothes for the Philippines.

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FYI: Sec. Teves, through his publicist, also informed me that "we will discuss with DSWD [Esperanza] Cabral if she can work with NGOs to faciliate the release of these goods."

Great Book Blockade revisited

JUST for everyone's perusal, here's the order from the Department of Finance suspending the tax on books. It's by no means permanent, as the DOF is still finalizing the guidelines on book importation. But for the moment, I think everyone can rest easy and go buy their books at their usual prices. (Of course, if the peso devaluates, it will raise the prices of our books, which is another matter completely.)

Here's a shout out to the bloggers and journalists who made a ruckus about the issue, and especially to my former boss and a book lover himself, Makati Rep. Teddyboy Locsin, who bent the ear of the presidentita on this one.

Shouldn't we applaud GMA as well? Hmmm...let's see the final guidelines first.

DOF Order 27-09 Suspending Book Tax

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Taxes & Accounting Business & Law book tax book blockade

Thanks to Finance Secretary Gary Teves' PR crew at Great Wall Advertising for emailing us a copy of the DO.

Manolo Quezon's take on the issue. Many think that the fight isn't over yet.