Chair

Dr. Dennis T. Gonzalez

Dr. Dennis T. Gonzalez exercised leadership as Chairman of the National Book Development Board (NBDB), a government agency, from 2002 to 2011. He ensured the completion of the “National Book Development Plan (2005-2010): Initiatives towards Becoming a Publishing Hub in Asia.”

He presided over the Governing Board in deciding public policies, programs, and projects to promote book readership among all age sectors of the citizenry and to ensure a sufficient supply of Philippine books, both textbooks and trade books, which are of good quality, at reasonable prices, distributed efficiently in all regions of the country, and promoted internationally.

He reached out to prominent authors and heads of associations to unite and support the formation of a collective management organization for the book publishing industry as stipulated in RA 8047 and the National Book Policy. In mid-2007, he co-organized the Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, Inc. (FILCOLS) together with Mr. Lirio P. Sandoval, president of the Book Development Association of the Philippines (BDAP); Virgilio S. Almario, National Artist and head of the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL or Writers Union of the Philippines); and Atty. Adrian “Che” S. Cristobal Jr., director general of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL).

He is a faculty member of the Ateneo School of Government since 2003 and the Ateneo Graduate School of Business since 2005 where he teaches “Public Sector Ethics” and “Business Ethics” respectively. He teaches the course “Ethics and Spirituality in Leadership” in the Ateneo’s PhD in Leadership Studies program. He teaches Systematic Theology courses at St. Vincent School of Theology, Adamson University.

He edited the books, The 1987 Constitution: To Change or Not To Change? (2012), The Will To Change: Marikina and Its Innovations (2009), and Frontline Leadership: Stories of 5 Local Chief Executives (2007). Besides his published essays and articles in several books and journals, he writes pieces on leadership, governance, book development, ethics, spirituality, and theology on his blog.

He has a Bachelor of Science in Education degree. He obtained his Master’s and Doctorate (PhD) degrees in Sacred Theology with highest honors from the Catholic University of Louvain (KUL), Belgium. He is married and has two children.

Vice Chair

Atty. Andrea Pasion-Flores

Atty. Andrea Pasion-Flores is the owner and publisher of Milflores Publishing. She is also the president of the Book Development Association of the Philippines (BDAP), the country’s oldest and largest book industry organization. BDAP is the main organizer of the annual Manila International Book Fair.

Prior to Milflores, she was the general manager of Anvil Publishing, a leading publisher in the country. Before that, she was a literary agent for Singapore-based literary agency, Jacaranda. She was also the executive director of the National Book Development Board.

She was chosen to be the country representative of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Swedish government-sponsored course on Copyright and Related Rights in a Global Economy in Stockholm and Shanghai. She also represented the country in a sub-regional seminar on Policy Options in the Application of Copyright Law sponsored by the government of Singapore and WIPO.

She crafted the draft Fair Use Guidelines for Classroom Use for the reference of the Philippine publishing industry and the Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, which was her country project for the Copyright and Related Rights course in Sweden, a first of its kind in the history of the program. And, together with the Intellectual Property Office and the staff of the Committee on Trade and Intellectual Property of the House of Representatives of the 14^th Congress and the 15^th Congress, she worked on the amendments to the Intellectual Property Code. In 2013, she also authored the Roadmap of the Philippine Publishing Industry for BDAP. She was the first Filipino to be a fellow at the Frankfurt Fellowship Program in 2014.

Her book of short stories, For Love and Kisses, is published by the University of Santo Tomas Press. As a lawyer, she specializes in copyright as it pertains to publishing.

Treasurer

John Jack Wigley

Dr. John Jack G. Wigley is a professor, author, translator, actor, and Miss Universe pageant connoisseur. He hails from Angeles City where he struggled as a bi-racial gay and in poverty after his father, an American soldier from the nearby military base, left their family. He has taught at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) since 1997. 

Jack’s translation Pag-Ibig sa Panahon ng Kolera (Lampara Books, 2022), Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera, was a finalist for the Best Translated Book in Filipino at the 41^st National Book Awards. He is the author of Home of the Ashfall: A Memoir (2014) and Falling into the Manhole: A Memoir (2012) both published by the UST Publishing House. He is co-author of In Synch: Edith Tiempo Made Easy (UST Varsitarian, 2009) and Philippine Literatures: Texts, Themes, Approaches (UST Publishing House, 2008). 

He has been on the Board of the Book Development Association of the Philippines since 2015 and the Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society since 2016. He was the Director of the UST Publishing House and a full-time literature professor at UST’s College of Rehabilitation Sciences and Faculty of Arts and Letters. He finished the following degrees: AB English (Holy Angel University, 1989), MA Literature (UST, 2004) and PhD Literature Cum Laude (UST, 2012). His dissertation is the first creative nonfiction at UST. 

He has received thirteen (13) Most Outstanding Teacher Awards in the Basic Sciences in Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy of the UST College of Rehabilitation Sciences.

Board Member

Beverly Wico Sy

Beverly W. Siy, better known by her pen name Bebang Siy, is a writer, translator, photographer, illustrator, proofreader, editor, teacher, book champion, and copyright ambassador.

Bebang’s It’s A Mens World (Anvil Publishing, 2010) won the 1st Filipino Readers’ Choice Award-Essay Anthology Category and was a finalist at the 33rd National Book Awards-Nonfiction Prose Filipino category. This was followed by It’s Raining Mens (Anvil Publishing, 2013).

Active for more than two decades in literature, publishing, and copyright advocacy, Bebang produced 14 books for various publishing houses in the country. She also produced poems, radio dramas, children’s books, comic scripts, short stories, and other literary forms in and out of the academe.

Some of the works she produced as editor and co-author are Hilakbot (Psicom Publishing, 2006), Haunted Philippines 8 (Psicom Publishing, 2007), Haunted Philippines 9 (Psicom Publishing, 2008), Sopas Muna (Psicom Publishing, 2008), Palalim nang Palalim, Padilim nang Padilim (Fox Literary House, 2008), Tres Amores (Fox Literary House, 2008), Patungong Panumtom Mga Akda ng Kabataang Zambales (Balangay Books, 2012), and Loyola High (Psicom Publishing, 2006). Her first erotic novel was Mingaw (Philsprint Publishing, 2006) under her pen name Frida Mujer. 

From 2010 to 2012, she was the membership and documentation officer of the Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society. Since 2016, she has been a senior culture and arts officer at the Intertextual (Literature) Division, Cultural Content Department of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, a government agency mandated to preserve and promote Philippine culture.

Bebang graduated with a Bachelor’s degree, cum laude, in Creative Writing in Filipino from the University of the Philippines Diliman. She is also pursuing her Master’s degree from the same university. She lives in Bacoor City, Cavite with her husband and children.

Board Member

Ruth Valorie Catabijan

Ruth Valorie “Wowie” D. Catabijan is the business development manager of textbook publisher St.
Matthew’s Publishing  Corporation and the editor of its children’s book imprint, Kahel Press.
She is the publisher of various fiction and  non-fiction books for children.

She is a finalist of the Innovative Leaders Scholarship of the Yale Publishing Course (for the Book Publishing, Non-USA
category) class of 2015 and a fellow of the Asian Publishers Fellowship  Program in Seoul in 2018.

She is one of seven mentees of the Performance Coaching Program of the World  Intellectual Property
Organization in cooperation with Visang Education in Seoul in 2019.

St. Matthew’s Publishing Corporation is the first Philippine publisher-partner of Bookshare, the world’s
largest online library of accessible  ebooks for people with print disabilities.

Board Member

Nida Ramirez

Nida Ramirez has worked as a teacher, TV copywriter, storekeeper, secretary, events producer, and bookkeeper before assuming the role of Publishing Manager for Visprint’s publishing arm when it was established in 2001. Since then, the publishing house, known for its consecutive bestselling titles, has received several National Book Awards, including the coveted Publisher of the Year award in 2015. 

While overseeing the closure of Visprint’s publications in 2020, she founded her own publishing company, Avenida Books, and continued to produce novels, comics, and graphic novels. 

With over two decades of experience in the industry and a portfolio of popular titles adapted into films, stage plays, musicals, and TV series, she remains dedicated to providing opportunities for talented writers and artists and representing Filipino authors in the international publishing arena.

Board Member

Joti Tabula

Joey “Joti” A. Tabula is a poet, writer, editor, publisher, and medical doctor from San Antonio, Zambales, the second largest province in Central Luzon in the Philippines.

Joti is the President of the Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo (LIRA), the oldest and award-winning association of Filipino poets. He leads the Board of Advisers of the Book Nook Casa San Miguel Foundation, advising on various projects to improve literacy among children and other disadvantaged groups in his hometown San Antonio.

He is co-chair of the Committee on Medical Humanities of the Philippine College of Physicians. Aside from creating a writing program for internist-writers, he also manages the organization’s official newsletter The Filipino Internist.

Despite his busy medical work, he took the task of editor to shape three book projects namely, Route 55: 55-word workforce narratives during COVID-19 pandemic, Rx Narratives: Anthology of Creative Nonfiction of Filipino Internists, and Pintanaga: Linya-Linya ng Pagsinta, all books received recognition as finalists at the 42nd National Book Awards.

Joti obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Biology, cum laude, at the University of the Philippines Los Baños. He then studied at the UP College of Medicine graduating as a recipient of the Eusebio S. Garcia Leadership Award, the top leadership prize for a graduating student. Then, he pursued his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Degree at the De la Salle University Manila.

Board Member

Aimee Morales

Imelda “Aimee” Morales is a writer, editor, and writers’ rights advocate. She is the founder of three
organizations namely, Isang Bata (One Child), For the Love Of Writing / For Lovers Of Words (FLOW), and
the Freelance Writers’ Guild of the Philippines (FWGP).

Isang Bata is an independent organization of volunteers that helps underprivileged children. FLOW is a
group of writers writing for spirituality, healing, and inspiration. Established in May 2015, the members
meet once a month for writing sessions, sharing and reading, workshops, and other related activities.

Lastly, FWGP is a nationwide organization of freelance writers, researchers, translators, and all kinds of
professionals who work with the written word. The organization champions the rights and welfare of
freelance writers in the Philippines. Started in 2011, it is now recognized by the Department of Labor
and Employment (DOLE) as a workers’ association and is affiliated with Uni-PLC (UNI Global Union-
Philippine Liaison Council), one of the country’s trade union centers.

Through the grant FWGP received from the Copyright Plus Program of the Bureau of Copyright and
Related Rights (BCRR), Aimee published The Written Property: A Freelance Writer’s Guide to Copyright.
She co-edited the work with Atty. Mark Robert Dy, an Intellectual Property Law specialist based in
Australia.

Aside from writing, Aimee is a core member of the Cavite chapter of the Eskrima de Campo JDC-IO, an
eskrima/arnis system developed by Prof. Ireneo Olavides, direct student of Grandmaster Jose Diaz
Caballero, the founder of the largo mano Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) system Eskrima de Campo.

Aimee obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce majoring in Business Administration from the
University of Santo Tomas. She pursued further studies in Creative Writing at Ateneo de Manila
University and the University of the Philippines Diliman.

Board Member

Jose Paolo M. Sibal

Jose Paolo M. Sibal is the President of Central Book Supply, Inc., part of Phoenix Publishing House, one
of the largest producers of educational materials in the Philippines.

With over 30 years of growing corporate leadership and entrepreneurial experience, he serves as the
President of the Philippine Educational Publishers Association (PEPA). He is a member of the Book
Development Association of the Philippines (BDAP), an organization focused on addressing challenges in
the local book industry. He has been Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society (FILCOLS) member since 2011
and served on the board from 2012 to 2022.

Paolo studied Political Science at the San Sebastian College Recoletos in Manila. He finished his Master’s
in Business Management at the Asian Institute of Management.

Corporate Secretary

Atty. Javier P. Flores

Javier P. Flores was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1999. He obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science in 1994 and a Bachelor’s Degree in Law in 1998, both from the University of the Philippines. 

Atty. Flores is heavily into litigation and corporate law practice as well as intellectual property law. He has successfully litigated cases involving construction disputes before the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission; intra-corporate disputes under the Interim Rules of Intra-Corporate Controversies; and proceedings before the regular courts involving injunctive relief, property, and family law. 

He has developed expertise in projects involving power, ecological solid waste management, and real estate development. He is the Corporate Secretary of various companies and industry associations including the Philippine Travel Agencies Association Inc. and the Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society.

Chairman Emeritus

Virgilio S. Almario (National Artist for Literature)

Virgilio S. Almario, also known as Rio Alma, is a poet, teacher, author, lexicographer, cultural manager, literary historian, and critic. He was conferred the title of National Artist for Literature in 2003. 

He revived and reinvented traditional Filipino poetic forms, even as he championed modernist poetics. In 34 years, he has published 12 books of poetry, which include the seminal Makinasyon and Peregrinasyon, and the landmark trilogy Doktrinang Anakpawis, Mga Retrato at Rekwerdo and Muli, Sa Kandungan ng Lupa. In these works, his poetic voice soared from the lyrical to the satirical to the epic, from the dramatic to the incantatory, in his often severe examination of the self, and the society.

He has also redefined how Filipino poetry is viewed and paved the way for the discussion of the same in his 10 books of criticisms and anthologies, among which are Ang Makata sa Panahon ng Makina, Balagtasismo versus Modernismo, Walong Dekada ng Makabagong Tula Pilipino, Mutyang Dilim, and Barlaan at Josaphat.

Many Filipino writers have come under his wing in the literary workshops he founded –the Galian sa Arte at Tula (GAT) and the Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo (LIRA). He has also long been involved with children’s literature through the Aklat Adarna series, published by his Children’s Communication Center. Eventually, he established Adarna House which is one of the country’s top publishers of children’s books.

He has been a constant presence as well in national writing workshops and galvanizes member writers as chairman emeritus of the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL). In 2007, he co-organized the Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, Inc. (FILCOLS) together with Mr. Lirio P. Sandoval, Book Development Association of the Philippines president, Atty. Adrian “Che” S. Cristobal Jr., Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines director general, and Dr. Dennis T. Gonzalez, National Book Development Board chairman.

He was the founding chairman of FILCOLS when it was incorporated in 2008.