The development of content is critical to the advancement of learning

From left to right: Director General (Undersecretary) of the Senate Tax and Research Office Atty. Rodelio Dascil, National Book Development Board (NBDB) Chairman Neni Sta. Romana, ASEAN Book Publishers Association (ABPA) President 2017 to 2019 Atty. Dominador Buhain, Editor-in-chief of the Publishing Perspective Porter Anderson, REX Bookstore International General Manager Sonia “Breezy” Santiago, Chief External Affairs Officer Danda Crimelda I. Buhain, and BOI Industry Development Services Executive Director Ma. Corazon Halili-Dichosa

Technology experts, bloggers, and content strategists have always claimed that content remains king as far as the viewing habits of digital natives are concerned. REX Book Store, the country’s premier learning solutions provider, takes that statement one step further and points out that content and its development is critical to the advancement of learning.

Ms. Danda Buhain, chief of external affairs of REX Group of Companies, shared her thoughts about the role that content plays in education, learning, and development at the Frankfurter Buchmesse or Frankfurt Book Fair, which was held recently at the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The said book fair is the world’s largest trade fair for the international publishing industry, and the five-day event gathered some 305,000 publishers, writers, and technology enablers from 104 countries, including the Philippines.

Present during the book fair were representatives from major players in the ASEAN publishing industry, and REX was highlighted as a leading publisher from the Philippines alongside representatives chosen by the National Book Development Board (NBDB). Atty. Buhain’s efforts to create a space for REX’s recognition in the international market began with the company’s first participation at the Frankfurt Book Fair way back in 1996, as it slowly gained steady ground as the country’s prime mover of change in the Philippine publishing industry.

The main sponsor of the ASEAN stage at the Frankfurt Book Fair was the ASEAN Book Publishers Association’s (ABPA), which talks about the state of publishing and content development in the ASEAN region. It is the second time that REX and the ABPA hosted the event, spearheaded by Atty. Dominador Buhain, who is the chairman and president of REX, president of ABPA, and the president emeritus of the Philippine Educational Publishers Association foster (PEPA).

The topics covered during the event include: the role of government in publishing, today’s reading habits, the history of Southeast Asian publishing, content licensing and rights, emerging opportunities for illustrators in the ASEAN market, literature for children and young adults, and publishing for the tertiary education market.

In her talk at the ASEAN stage, Ms. Buhain highlighted that interesting and informative content on the appropriate platform is key to engaging the hearts and minds of learners, especially among millennials and the gen Z. Buhain said, “Quality content has been the core of REX’s learning materials, even long before the emergence of the internet. With technology, its capacity to draw in readers increases and can become more compelling and engaging.”

“We do have to elevate leadership because it forms a critical cornerstone in nation-building. In developing our content arsenal, we always keep in mind the advantages it presents to the Filipino people, especially our young learners. As we continue to evolve, we intend to do the same to educators and their students in Southeast Asia & neighboring countries,” Ms. Buhain continued.

REX has established itself as a leading content provider, especially for academicians and their students, since its establishment in 1950. Throughout its 70-year history. It has become the go-to hub for avid learners who want to increase their knowledge, further their career, and contribute to the society. It started out as Rex Book Store, a small bookshop that sold second-hand textbooks, with a majority of them focusing on the law and the legal profession.

Over time, REX branched out into other subjects covered by universities and colleges such as history, literature, arithmetic, science, and other emerging fields of education. It was soon providing relevant content to numerous schools and educational institutions throughout the Philippines.

Stagnation, as they say, is one of the worst enemies of progress. Globalization prompted REX to rebrand and expand into the digital market with two new arms: Rex Interactive and Rex Publishing Online. These efforts were targeted towards a new generation of students who grew up on the internet and were more inclined to read on-screen materials and study their courses from REX’s library of e-books and digital platforms. REX has also ventured into the global market, offering these online materials to Filipino communities based in other countries.

“Real learning does not stop, and that is why the materials on which they are published must evolve as well, to adapt to the behavior of the students,” said Ms. Buhain. “The digital experience and the demand of its digital natives for quality content remains the same: high-quality content blended with responsive, tech-enabled learning that can address their needs.”

REX envisions its work to be responsive to the learners of today, tomorrow, and yesterday. The company believes that learning is a lifelong process, and sees opportunities for learning for everyone, regardless of age and status. This is why REX designs learning solutions in a manner that responds to the needs of today’s learners, with methods and approaches that learn and unlearn from a number of perspectives.

As it leads the country’s publishing industry into the future, REX focuses not only on incorporating technologies and social platforms into the digital learning experience, but it also adopts an integrated approach to provide top quality content that it has been known for through the years.

For more info about REX’s comprehensive suite of learning solutions, visit //www.rexpublishing.com.ph/solutions/