MANILA — The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) has flagged a geographic imbalance in the country’s publishing industry that continues to delay the delivery of learning materials, potentially undermining recent breakthroughs in textbook procurement, the commission said on Friday.

DepEd recently reported success in ending a decade-long gridlock in textbook procurement. In 2024 alone, the agency delivered over 87 million textbooks and procured more than 100 new titles, compared with just 27 titles over the preceding decade. Through reforms such as Early Procurement Activities (EPA), DepEd reduced the procurement timeline from 210 days to 60 days.

However, EDCOM II cited a Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) study, DepEd’s Book Supply Chain: Issues, Challenges, and Ways Forward, noting that textbook production remains heavily concentrated in Luzon. This leaves vast areas of the Visayas and Mindanao with virtually no local publishing capacity. Data show that most National Book Development Board (NBDB)-registered publishers are clustered in the National Capital Region, with entire northern Visayan provinces having no publishing enterprises and only a handful in Mindanao.

EDCOM II Co-Chairperson Senator Loren Legarda said the imbalance directly affects students’ access to learning materials.

“We cannot allow geography to dictate a child’s access to quality education. While we commend the DepEd for finally securing the textbooks, the concentration of publishing hubs in Luzon has historically left millions of learners in the Visayas and Mindanao waiting for months, sometimes years, for materials that are essential to their learning. We must decentralize this industry and support the growth of local publishers in order to ensure that every student, regardless of where they live, has a textbook on their desk on the first day of school,” she said.

Under Republic Act 8047, or the Book Publishing Industry Development Act of 1995, the NBDB was created to develop the local publishing industry. Yet decades later, market concentration persists. Senate hearings showed that in the latest DepEd bidding, only 10 publishers won all 60 lots, forcing textbooks to cross two to four islands before reaching remote schools—a process vulnerable to weather and port delays. Delivery can take 10 to 14 months, according to a 2024 study commissioned by EDCOM II.

EDCOM II Executive Director Dr. Karol Mark Yee emphasized the NBDB’s role in ensuring an adequate, affordable, and accessible supply of books, supporting indigenous authorship, and providing materials in learners’ mother tongues.

“Moving forward, we urge the NBDB to work closely with DepEd, so that learner needs are prioritized strategically, book supply chains are fixed, and quality local books and publishers are supported and are accessible in every part of our country,” he said.

EDCOM II’s National Education Plan (NatPlan) aims to achieve a 1:1 textbook-to-student ratio for all elementary learners, targeting 100% coverage for 14.7 million students by 2028 and maintaining the standard through 2031 and 2035, while ensuring updated materials are delivered according to DepEd’s five-year cycle.