FILCOLS Huntahan is now ready (and very excited) to explore the regions!
Last 14 December 2010, FILCOLS Huntahan was held in KDC, Father James O’ Brien Library, Ateneo de Naga University, Naga City, Camarines Sur. More than thirty individuals attended. Some were writers from Kabulig, one of the co-organizers of the event, Ateneo de Naga, Gainza Central andCentral Bicol State University of Agriculture (CBSUA). The others were law students from University of Nueva Caceres, librarians from Ateneo de Naga and representative of ADNU’s University Research Council.
At 1:15 p.m., FILCOLS Huntahan started with an opening message from Victor Dennis T. Nierva, the president of Kabulig and a professor from the ADNU Social Sciences Department. It was followed by a powerpoint presentation of Atty. Mark Robert Dy, copyright consultant from Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines. Alvin Buenaventura, the executive director of Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, Inc. (FILCOLS) also gave a talk about copyright as writers’ human rights. A number of writers shared some of their experiences with abusive publishers. Some also asked questions like this one:
Q. The draft of my article was published a long time ago in a university publication. Recently, I revised and updated it. I had it published again but in another publication. The editorial group from the university publication where my article first came out sent me a letter stating that I didn’t have the right to do that. Is it true?
A. Atty. Mark Robert Dy replied, “if you didn’t sign any contract, no.” He added that according to the IP Code of the Philippines, in absence of written agreement or contract, the author, a natural person, still owns the copyright to works he/she created. Thus giving him/her the right to publish the work anywhere and anytime.
Abdon Balde, Jr., the chairperson of Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas and a FILCOLS Board Member followed shortly with his introduction about UMPIL. He encouraged the writers to join organizations so that they can move as a bigger and more powerful entity.
The participants brought up a lot of copyright issues.
One writer/researcher shared her experience about being invited to present a research paper she authored in a conference in United Kingdom. She went and presented her paper and came home very happy and elated. Everything was paid for by the organizers. Soon, she found out that the organizers published a book containing all the papers that were presented in the conference. Although she felt proud to be included in the book, she still felt violated because she wasn’t informed about it and neither did she get any compensation for its publication.
Before the Huntahan ended, Aida B. Cirujales, the queen of Tigsik (an indigenous form of poetry in the Bicol Region) showed everyone what she’s got. She recited her own poems in Filipino and Bicol. They were about the importance of the event to the writers from this side of the country.
FILCOLS and UMPIL distributed membership forms to the participants and invited everyone to join the organizations.
FILCOLS Huntahan sa Naga aims to help writers (from Naga and from the neighboring towns) be more knowledgeable about their rights and to campaign for respect for intellectual property. It was organized by Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, Inc., Kabulig Writers and the Social Sciences Department of Ateneo de Naga University.
FILCOLS receives support from the Norwegian Copyright Development Association (NORCODE) and Kopinor. NORCODE is an international copyright development group funded by five copyright societies namely KOPINOR, GRAMO, TONO, BONO and NORWACO. KOPINOR is the reproduction rights (RRO) of Norway while FILCOLS is the RRO of the Philippines.
The next FILCOLS Huntahan will be on January 28, 2011 in Lingayen, Pangasinan.
Kudos FILCOLS!
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