00:00Pagdiriwang ng Philippine Book Festival ngayong taon at ang access ng mga kabataan sa Filipino textbooks ating pag-uusapan
00:06kasama si Ms. Therese Aquino Tugade, Executive Director ng National Book Development Board.
00:12Director, magandang tanghali po.
00:13Magandang tanghali. Sorry, Joshua.
00:16Welcome po sa Bagong Pilipinas ngayon.
00:17Ma'am, what can we expect po dito sa, I mean, the highlights dito sa 4th Philippine Book Festival this
00:24year, 2026,
00:25and how is this different from the previous ones?
00:27Wow, this year is the biggest and the best Philippine Book Festival.
00:33So, itong festival natin ay isang festival that just focuses on Filipino-authored books and Filipino-authored titles.
00:40It's very difficult to find our own titles sa mga library, sa bookstore.
00:45So, it's high time na i-highlight natin yung mga libro natin and our authors and illustrators.
00:51So, this is a highly programmatic event na maraming events. It's all for free.
00:57This Thursday to Sunday po at Mega Mall.
00:59So, this is open for everyone?
01:01Yes, open for everyone po. For families, friends.
01:04Okay. And how do you think this will help, this Philippine Book Festival will help the book industry dito po
01:10sa ating magsat?
01:11Okay. So, the Philippine Book Festival is essentially a marketplace.
01:14Kulang tayo ng mga marketplaces for our own titles.
01:18If you go, you know, to the different islands, especially in Visayas and Mindanao, kulang talaga tayo ng mga bookstores.
01:24And walang access yung mga children natin, even in their own schools.
01:28So, this is a time for schools to buy books for their schools, their universities.
01:35It's a good time for parents to look for the titles that their children would really want in the languages
01:41that their kids like to read in.
01:43Yes. Okay. Now, in relation with this festival po, can you explain to us, perhaps in layman's term,
01:51paano po ito, how would this help to encourage our fellow Filipinos to patatangkilikin yung ating mga aklat?
01:59Na kasi, nowadays, more on online na eh. So, internet. So, paano po makakatuloy ito?
02:05Yes. I do agree, more on online. You know, when we did the research of even some teachers, we asked,
02:12ano yung, what do you like to do in your free time? And the number one is do social media.
02:17And then, you have the mall. You have malling.
02:20So, what we did is we decided na akawa tayo ng book fair, na hindi lang book fair, hindi lang
02:24bibili ng libro,
02:25but a fair na may, you get to meet your favorite authors or the authors that you don't even know
02:31about, right?
02:32Because many people, they don't know, sino ba yung mga authors natin? May comics ba tayo? May mga romance titles.
02:38And we have it all. So, this is a good avenue for everyone to see what is out there, what
02:44we have.
02:45And what we do sa festival na ito, para siyang party, para siyang fiesta.
02:50This year's theme is Gubat ng Karunungan. And what we do is we have music, you like art, you like
02:58theater, you like books, you like everything.
03:01So, we put everything in one venue so that even if you don't like to read, it will give you,
03:07we give space for that.
03:10You can come in, you can just enjoy, and maybe you can buy a book. Because reading is a habit.
03:15Kung hindi siya habit, then it's not going to work. So, we want to get everyone, if you like to
03:21go to the mall, go to the book fair.
03:22It's right there on the fourth floor.
03:24Gubat ng Karunungan. This is really interesting.
03:26Can you give us details saan po ito gagalapin? Where are you going to do this?
03:29I believe it's sa isang mall?
03:31Yes. So, this, yung Philippine Book Festival, will be in Mega Mall, sa Mega Trade Hall.
03:37That's the fourth floor of Mega Mall, beginning this Thursday, March 12th.
03:44Today's 10th, so...
03:46Yes. March 12th.
03:4712th.
03:4812th, okay.
03:48Yes. March 12th hanggang Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
03:53And again, this is all for free. All you need to do is pre-register books.gov.ph.
03:58You can just go online, or you can also walk in.
04:02Yes, po.
04:02So, this is open for all ages?
04:04Open for all ages.
04:06Okay. And bukod po sa mga gayetong festival, aside from this one,
04:10how does the National Book Development Board help para po mas mapalawak po yung access?
04:16Balikan ko po yung nabanggit nyo kanina, para doon sa mga guru, sa mga estudyante,
04:20teachers and students sa malalang lugar.
04:22So, what we do, when people ask us, ano ba yung National Book Development Board?
04:27Kasi kala nila, we develop books.
04:29But that's not what we do.
04:31We develop the industry.
04:32So, I liken it to DTI.
04:34We are essentially like the DTI for books.
04:36Okay.
04:37So, we're here to grow the industry, grow the marketplace.
04:40So, if there are buyers that are institutional buyers that like to buy the books,
04:44we bridge them with the publishers.
04:46And let's say, pag may mga authors, and they don't have any publisher,
04:50we bridge them with the publisher.
04:51So, it's essentially yung buong ecosystem.
04:54We try to empower each part of the ecosystem so that everyone can grow together
04:59in this book publishing industry.
05:02Well, can you give us an idea?
05:04Kamusta po ang Estado?
05:06What is the state right now ng publishers, ng mga maandang illustrators?
05:09Because I've seen some content online na one of their challenges is publishing.
05:15So, how does the NBDB help?
05:17So, NBDB po, what we do is we register everyone that's part of the publishing industry.
05:25Let's say you're an author, new author, new illustrator.
05:28All you can do is register with the NBDB.
05:31You get a certificate.
05:33And with that certificate, they are able to get our incentives and grants.
05:38Yung mga grants natin ay manuscript grant.
05:40So, we can help you, and we can help fund you to write your manuscript grant.
05:45And if you want to publish, we help you with the publication grant, translation grant.
05:49Let's say you wrote something in Hiligaynon.
05:51You want to translate it to Maranao.
05:53We can do that.
05:54We provide grants for that.
05:55We also provide a grant called Creative Nation.
05:58So, if you want to upscale, so that's what we do.
06:01We also do training.
06:02Meron tayong book institute.
06:03Kasi maraming manunulat, pero hindi sila marunong sa marketing.
06:06So, we teach marketing.
06:08We teach you copyright.
06:10Very important yung copyright at yung mga contracts.
06:12Kasi marami tayong creatives, but yung mga kontrate nila is not good for them.
06:19It's good for someone else.
06:21So, we want to make sure that all our creatives are empowered.
06:24So, yun po.
06:25So, that's what we do for creatives.
06:26And sometimes they're being taken advantage of.
06:29Of course, all the time.
06:30So, yeah, that's one of the challenges.
06:31That's really good.
06:32Kasi minsan nawawala na yung passion.
06:34I mean, there are some authors na kakilala ko na they've been writing,
06:38pero nawawala na yung fire nila to continue because of the challenges.
06:42Now, on a slightly different topic,
06:45gagalapin din po yung 43rd National Book Awards.
06:48Can you give us more details about this?
06:49Yes, 43rd National Book Awards.
06:52You know, we're very excited
06:53because this will be for the very first time
06:56at the Philippine Book Festival on Saturday.
06:59So, what we're doing is we're bridging now the authors with the public
07:06because as public, hindi naman natin alam kung sino yung mga authors natin.
07:10How do our authors even look like?
07:12Like, for example, kilala natin si J.K. Rowling.
07:15We know how she looks.
07:17Pero yung mga authors, hindi natin alam.
07:20Why?
07:20So, now it's an important time.
07:21Oh, siya pala yung, you know,
07:23she's the one that wrote our favorite book.
07:26You know, you get to meet the likes of Rikki Lee,
07:28Abeth Ocampo, even Glock 9,
07:31who is coming out with a series of poetry books.
07:34He will be there.
07:35So, you have Feliz Santa Maria.
07:36You have all of the young and amazing comic heroes.
07:39They'll all be there at the Philippine Book Festival.
07:41And in this, in the awards ceremony,
07:44you will get to meet the cream of the crop,
07:47the ones that are winning for this year,
07:49you know, and their new titles.
07:50So, you'll get a chance to meet them as well.
07:52That's really exciting.
07:53And what I see here is you're giving them enough exposure
07:58para din ma-entice yung ating mga Filipino
08:00to go back to traditional book reading.
08:03Yes, yes.
08:04And meron rin tayong digital books.
08:06No problems with digital books.
08:08But what we just want is that habit of reading.
08:11Nangawala yung habit because sometimes,
08:13you know, we have our phone
08:15and it's quicker and all of that.
08:17Well, mas, ako, personally, mas masustansya.
08:20I mean, the substance is more sa books compared to online.
08:26Well, lastly po, your message to the parents,
08:29to teachers, and even sa mga generation ngayon
08:32para po supportahan itong nalapitin niyong activity.
08:35Yes, we would like to invite each and every one of you
08:38to the Philippine Book Festival
08:40this Thursday, March 12 to Sunday, March 15
08:44from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
08:46We have the Philippine Book Festival.
08:48Marami po tayong programa.
08:50You will meet all of your favorite authors
08:52and illustrators from comics all the way to your textbooks.
08:56It will be enjoyable, very fun.
08:58And of course, it's all for free, just for you.
09:01And also, you can share with us
09:02saan po nang pwede makita ito online,
09:04like in social media pages,
09:06that we can check the schedules as well.
09:07Yes, so you can go to the PhilippineBookFest.com
09:10and of course, books.gov.ph.
09:13You can follow us,
09:14the National Book Development Board,
09:16on all our social media as well.
09:19All right.
09:19On that note, maraming maraming salamat po
09:21sa inyong oras,
09:21Mga Charisse Aquino Tugade,
09:23Executive Director,
09:24National Book Development Board.
09:26Thank you so much, ma'am.
Comments