THE head of the Philippine Educational Publishers Association (PEPA) believes that the Department of Education (DepEd) is now looking at better quality books that would be used in the Matatag curriculum from private publishers.

Speaking to the IBC public affairs program "The Chairman's Report" with former Manila Times chairman and CEO Dante Ang II on Friday.

Jose Paulo Sibal, president of PEPA, said the DepEd is now discussing how to streamline the textbook procurement process.

"The DepEd has turned the page, as a matter of fact. The DepEd approached me and said they wanted to talk about the procurement process and how to streamline it, and one of the advocacies, not just for the publishing business, was quality before price, and that was the major stumbling block in the last procurement," Sibal said.

Sibal said that the DepEd will now implement some changes in the procurement once a textbook call is implemented in 2025 for 2026.

"Further, there are some discussions in Edcom (2nd Educational Commission on Education) and in the Senate, they want to take another look at the bidding process and streamline it even further... by prequalifying the book and later, the schools, or district can do the book selection," Sibal said.

Sibal hopes that Congress can pass a law that would allow the DepEd to be more flexible in the procurement of textbooks that would suit schools by area.

"Not all schools are the same. Some schools are science high schools, some schools are advanced, or are being adopted by the local government. Each school has its particular differences," Sibal said.

Sibal also addressed criticism of textbook content, noting that educational publishers have sent their people abroad to study best practices in textbook publishing.

He also said that while artificial intelligence is a useful tool, nothing can surpass the experience and training of authors and editors.

The Chairman's Report airs on Fridays at 7 p.m. on IBC-13 and is also available on IBC Digital's Facebook and YouTube accounts.