DOF Usec Sales -- Novels & Reading Books Are "Not Educational"

From today's Philippine Star story (finally, mainstream media attention) on the furor over customs duties on imported books:

But [Department of Finance Undersecretary Espele] Sales reportedly brushed off this argument, saying novels and reading books are “not educational.”

I don't care whether she meant in a legal sense or in a real sense -- as a public official she should know better how her words would play out in public. That statement embodies the endemic problem we are facing. The people in power presume we are not a reading society, or do not see the virtue of promoting reading among the Filipino people. Even worse, people in power like Sales are themselves culturally illiterate, and cannot see the connection between cultural literacy and our advancement as a society. With statements like these, it is easy to see why many of us have gone beyond seeing this as a legal issue. This is emerging as a moral issue with near equivalence to a battle of good versus evil. Simply put, do we want people who think and act like Sales in charge of our national policies, steering our destiny as a nation?

Undersecretary Sales's e-mail address is esales@dof.gov.ph.

Interestingly enough, I Googled "Espele Sales", and virtually all the hits that popped up pertained to this particular controversy. As if she had no life, no track record, no tangible accomplishments outside of the book importation brouhaha. Of course, because her name is Estela V. Sales. My bad.