Here I am, curled up in my seat, due to the vast coldness of artificial breeze circulating inside this room. Hence, this is why the air conditioning system is made for, at least in the tropical country like the Philippines. It curbs you from painstakingly bearing the scorching heat outside. Not all of my folks are lucky though, since those donning the blue collar have no choice but to withstand the heat, whilst drudging all day long outside. And, this is for some damn work that challenges their physical strength to the limits, yet helping them pay their bills and fend their families.

Fine. Enough of the literary gab, let’s go to the main issue. It’s not about the air conditioning system for that matter, nor another workforce issue.

It’s about the Great Book Blockade. Yes, I know you’ve been hearing stories like these on blogs, and curiously seeing hashtags of it on Twitter.

I must admit that I am not a bookworm myself. I rarely read books, but it’s really sick to know that I am fond of buying them. For what? I really don’t get to read them asap anyway. But, every book bought, and prominently displayed on my bedside, is like an apparition that reminds me to leaf a page or two, and make myself a pundit for that particular read. I have shared my love in literature by writing prose and poetry since high school. I believe, I even have some poems published online before.

This just showed me my marginal concern about the book blockade issue. I was like, “what the heck?” Then, I shrugged off and go back to work. But, as everything becomes clear to me regarding this ridiculous taxation of books (that overtly breaches the Florence Agreement), I felt deeply concerned about fighting against it. Why the fuck does the government (Philippine customs in particular) pushes through such moronic and no less than anomalous way of enriching themselves through such legalized embezzlement? The term sounds pretty much oxymoronic, but that’s how I could simply put it.

Another political assholery in the making, that I truly know of. Now, shelling out a decent price of Php 300 for a worthy read will soon be far-fetched, as book prices are expected to surge up more than your income raise. It’s like your dream book has yet to become more evasive, simply because you can hardly afford it.

Clearly, you guys sitting there, enjoying your pork barrel and under-the-table cuts, DO NOT KNOW YOUR JOB. Your job is not to huddle over and join the hodgepodge of attention-seeking whores who are insanely adamant to make a BIG fuss over those scandalous videos that are quite making a huge public noise these days. I mean, I feel sorry for those involved in such lewd scandals. I myself had quite a few moments sympathizing to those who were abused and whom their privacies were harshly invaded. But, I hope those who are in the legislature will keep their mouths shut from prattling clamorously nonsense, and leave this issue to the proper authorities.

I just hope people will continuously push this movement against the book blockade, and I hope those in the top spots would lend their ears and eventually have the brains as well as the heart to listen to us.

Also, check MLQ III’s post regarding the Book Blockade.