Bacolod solon seeks ban of 'textbook scam' publishers

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines - Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella said he will file a resolution that would ban at least five publishing companies linked to the alleged multimillion-peso textbooks scam, the Sun.Star Bacolod reported Wednesday. The report identified the five publishing companies as JTW Corporation, SD Publications Inc., Vibal Publishing House Inc. and Lamco Paper Products Co. Inc. and Watana Phanit Printing Company. On March 11, Puentevella delivered a privilege speech disclosing the complaints by some educational institutions and the development of the investigation of the House committee on education into the textbooks scam. In his privilege speech, Puentevella pointed out that Department of Education (DepEd) high school textbooks were riddled with "factual errors". According to Sun.Star, the book 'Asya: Noon, Ngayon at sa Hinaharap', was published by Vibal Publishing Inc. The public school version, however, is published by SD Publications, a sister company of Vibal. Puentevella said members of the Instructional Materials Council of the committee were dismayed to discover that the textbooks contained "grave errors." - GMANews.TV