FILCOLS Starts Triennial Distribution of Remuneration, Elects New Trustees

Marikina City Convention Center

Despite canceled classes as a precaution for the coming Typhoon Tisoy, the Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, Inc. (FILCOLS) proceeded with its general assembly and distribution of remuneration at the Function Hall C, Marikina Convention Center, Marikina City on Dec. 2.

FILCOLS Officers. (l-r) Dr. John Jack Wigley G. Wigley, FILCOLS interim chair; Atty. Andrea Pasion-Flores, Dr. Dennis T. Gonzalez, Atty. Pia Benosa, and Atty. Dawn Chua. Photo by Wowie Catabijan.

Start of distribution of remuneration 

The general assembly gathers all the members to review and approve the actions taken by the Board of Trustees and the Secretariat for the previous year. A new set of Trustees was elected to serve for two years.

FILCOLS Team. Photo by Wowie Catabijan.

“We welcome everyone who braved the bad weather to join us here in Marikina,” said Dr. John Jack Wigley, interim chair during his opening remarks. “The Board of Trustees is pleased to witness the third time FILCOLS is distributing remuneration for the reuse of Filipino works, mostly created by our members, in government schools. We are happy with FILCOLS’s accomplishment for our member-authors, heirs of authors, and publishers.”

Dr. Gloria C. Sandoval (left) with some of the members of the
Marikina City Association of Retired Public School Teachers (MCARPST).
 Photo by Wowie Catabijan. 

The event coincided with the triennial distribution of remuneration. FILCOLS started to distribute remuneration to its member authors, publishers, and heirs of authors six years ago.

FILCOLS gifted the audience with books authored by Dr. John Jack C. Wigley (Lait Chronicles), Atty. Andrea Pasion-Flores (For Love and Kisses), and Bebang Siy (Nuno sa Puso vol. 1 & 2, Lila).
Photo by Wowie Catabijan.

PHP 100K – The largest amount distributed to each publisher 

For 2019, the largest amount of PHP 100,000.00 each was distributed to Anvil Publishing, Inc. represented by its general manager Atty. Andrea Pasion-Flores and Central Books represented by its president Jose Paolo M. Sibal.

Anvil Publishing general manager Atty. Andrea Pasion-Flores with Dr. John Jack G. Wigley,
Ponchie Santos, and Alvin J. Buenaventura..
Photo by Wowie Catabijan. 

Author-members whose works were re-used received remuneration ranging from PHP 3,000.00 to PHP 20,000.00. FILCOLS distributes every three years to allow time for gathering substantial amounts.

CentralBooks president Jose Paolo M. Sibal with Dr. John Jack G. Wigley,
Ponchie Santos, and Alvin J. Buenaventura.
Photo by Wowie Catabijan.

“Remuneration is the term for money gathered by a collective management organization (CMO) from various sources for the reuse of copyrighted works,” FILCOLS executive director Alvin J. Buenaventura explained. 

He continued to explain that secondary use or re-use happens when institutions conduct large-scale digital and photocopying of published poems, short stories, articles, and other copyrighted works for their internal use. Institutions need to get a license from a CMO like FILCOLS to legally access these works.

Members of the MCARPST. Photo by Wowie Catabijan.

“Primary use happens when the author creates a new work that is published for the first time. The author’s compensation for this is called royalty,” Buenaventura added. 

“The only source of money is the income from the new work. According to the IP Code, only the author has the right to authorize the reproduction of the work or a substantial portion of the work. Thus, the remuneration collected by FILCOLS for large-scale reproduction is the second half of income for authors.”

FILCOLS executive director Alvin J. Buenaventura explains how CMOs
support the book publishing industry. Photo by Wowie Catabijan.

African authors in countries like Mauritius, Malawi, and Kenya receive regular remuneration 

He ended by explaining that poverty should never be an excuse because even schools from poorer countries know the value of securing licenses for the use of copyrighted materials. 

There have been CMOs operating in Africa even before the enactment of the Philippine IP Code in 1998. For example, MASA (Mauritius Society of Authors, est. 1989), COSOMA (Copyright Society of Malawi, est. 1992), and KOPIKEN (The Reproduction Rights Society of Kenya, est. 1995). 

“The authors of these African countries receive regular remuneration for the large-scale use of their works in educational institutions and other organizations,” he stressed. 

The two volumes of Nuno sa Puso by Bebang Siy were distributed to the audience.
Photo by Wowie Catabijan.

People Power articles popular in Australian educational institutions

FILCOLS first started to distribute remuneration in 2013 at the Bulwagang Recto, Faculty Center, UP Diliman. It received a token license fee from the Department of Education for the secondary use of works of FILCOLS members in DepEd’s Learners Materials. 

The second distribution was held in 2016 at the Ayala Museum, Makati City. Aside from local license fees, FILCOLS was able to distribute substantial amounts from the remuneration remitted by Australia’s CMO Copyright Agency and the Copyright Licensing and Administration Society of Singapore (CLASS). 

Articles on People Power were the most reproduced material in Australian educational institutions. Also, every printout from websites and blogs was given corresponding remuneration as mandated by law. 

In 2016, FILCOLS distributed remuneration to Philippine Daily Inquirer journalists Ceres P. Doyo, Manuel L. Quezon III, Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz, Donna Pazzibugan, and Volt Contreras for their online articles on People Power which Australian educational institutions printed out from the internet.

The newly elected Board of Trustees with GA guests. (Seated, l-r) Mina Esguerra, Bebang Siy, Wowie Catabijan, Atty. Andrea Pasion-Flores, Dr. Gloria C. Sandoval, Dr. John Jack G. Wigley. (Standing, l-r) Fr. Julius Coching, CMF, Atty. Dawn Chua, Atty. Pia Benosa, Aldrin Pentero, Ponchie Santos, Dr. Dennis T. Gonzalez, Jose Paolo M. Sibal, and Alvin J. Buenaventura.
Photo by Reg Pastor.

New members of the Board of Trustees 

The general assembly elected Dr. Dennis T. Gonzalez, Dr. John Jack Wigley, Fr. Julius Jose Coching, Beverly Siy, Ruth Valorie Catabijan, Carmina Esguerra, Aldrin Pentero, Sibal, and Pasion-Flores. 

Present at the event were Leonor “Beng” Reyes and Salvador “Jun” Briola Jr., government officers from the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL). 

A large delegation from the Marikina City Association of Retired Public School Teachers (MCARPST) was present together with their vice president Dr. Gloria C. Sandoval. She also heads Marikina City’s Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA). 

Ponchie Santos, chief of the Marikina City Tourism, Culture, and the Arts Office, welcomed everyone on behalf of Mayor Marcy Teodoro. He shared their children’s book project which aims to engage parents in encouraging their kids to read and to lessen the time devoted to their electronic gadgets.

Ponchie Santos chief of the Marikina City Tourism, Culture, and the Arts Office.
Photo by Wowie Catabijan.

“Parents should lead by example and teach their kids to develop the habit of reading,” Santos said, while also expressing gratitude to FILCOLS for holding the event in Marikina and providing free books to its senior citizens.

Trustee Bebang Siy happily signing books for her new fans from Marikina City.
Photo Wowie Catabijan.

Award-winning authors and esteemed publishers 

Incorporated on 8 January 2008, FILCOLS was organized as a not-for-profit organization by BDAP, Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL), the National Book Development Board, and IPOPHL. 

National Artist Virgilio S. Almario is FILCOLS’s founding chair. He is also chairman emeritus. 

Some of the founding member-authors are National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera, Isagani R. Cruz, Charlson L. Ong, Mariano L. Kilates, Abdon M. Balde Jr., Galileo S. Zafra, Gemino H. Abad, Erlinda S. Panlilio, Karina A. Bolasco, and Jose Y. Dalisay Jr., who was the previous chairman. 

Most of FILCOLS’s members are award-winning authors, reputable publishers, and are also UMPIL members.

FILCOLS Officers with guests from the IPOPHL, Marikina LGU, and MCARPST.
Photo by Reg Pastor. 

International support 

FILCOLS is an active member of the Brussels-based International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations. IFRRO is the international network of CMOs in the field of print and publishing.

Copyright Agency and CLASS provided support from the early years of FILCOLS up to the present. For the first three years, financial support was provided by Kopinor, Norway’s CMO, and the Norwegian Copyright Development Association (NORCODE).

Dr. John Jack G. Wigley signing Lait Chronicles for his young fans.
Photo by Wowie Catabijan. 

Buenaventura reported to the general assembly that NORCODE admitted to its training program FILCOLS’s new membership officer Regina Reyna V. Pastor in November 2019. 

Participants from 12 countries underwent the two-week Regional Training for Asia in Hanoi, Vietnam. 

The authors allow the reposting of the unaltered article along with photos provided the following is included at the end:

Text by Alvin J. Buenaventura. Photos by Reg Pastor and Wowie Catabijan. For more information, please visit http://filcols.blogspot.com