The Philippine Educational Publishers Association (PEPA) marks its 75th year in ceremonies honoring its partners and supporters led by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Committee on Education during the 19th Congress.
The event with the theme “Honoring the Past, Celebrating the Present, and Public in the Future” was held last Dec. 5 at the Marco Polo Hotel in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.
Gatchalian was particularly cited for his “diligence in pushing for educational reforms” in his capacity of the Education committee.
In his acceptance speech, Gatchalian reiterated his belief that public schools should be permitted to select the textbooks best suited for their students and their conditions, citing the practice of private schools whose textbooks are chosen by subject coordinators and teachers.
Other honorees were Senator Rodante Marcoleta, former congressman Antonio Cerilles of Zamboanga del Sur, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, and Rodelio Dascil, director general of the Senate Tax Study and Research.
They were cited for their role in the crafting of the Book Industry Development Act (RA 8047).
Plaques were likewise presented to government and private agencies like the Department of Education, the National Book Development Board, the Private Education Assistance Committee, and the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines.
PEPA, one of the oldest associations of Philippine publishers, was founded in 1950.
PEPA president emeritus Dominador Buhain said Gatchalian’s proposed solution for providing each public school student with a set of textbooks through liberalized procurement was being adopted by advanced countries with high ratings in international assessments like China, Japan, Finland and Singapore, whose students score high in international assessments like PISA.
Gatchalian regretted the delays in textbook allocation for public schools due to a centralized procurement process.
Gatchalian, a product of the private school system, , says he saw no opposition to the adoption of the procurement program in the private schools by the public schools due to the accessibility and presumptive quality of textbooks to be adopted (brought out by competitive market forces) within a shorter time frame.
He was confident that his earlier estimate of P28-billion procurement budget last year was sufficient to provide one textbook per subject per student. Possessing a textbook, however delayed, is still a better proposition, one that could improve the Philippines’ ranking in the PISA international, he said.
Unfortunately, the procurement for textbooks for SY 2025-2026 in some grade levels has been delayed by new procurement guidelines under RA12009.
As PEPA looks forward to another seven decades of service to the Filipino learner, it is resolved to meet the rigorous demands of knowledge production for the diverse learning needs of Philippine schools.
