Phoenix Publishing House, Inc.

In 1958, Dr. Ernesto Y. Sibal, a patriot, upon the prodding of his visionary wife Alegria Rodriguez, was propelled by a far reaching goal of furnishing Filipino children with Filipino crafted books. He was then assisted by his five staff. Dr. Sibal made the first step in textbook Filipinization, providing an impetus toward publishing quality instructional materials for and by Filipinos.

After fourteen years of operation, Dr. Sibal finally gained government support in his crusade for Filipino-authored textbooks. Department Order No. 43, S. 1972 was issued "with a view of accomplishing an integrated, nationalistic, and democracy-inspired education system in the Philippines, all schools, colleges, and universities should use, if available, only textbooks authored by Filipinos and published locally in preference to those written by foreigners and printed abroad."

When Ernesto Sibal passed away in 1977, his son, Jesus Ernesto Sibal assumed the presidency of the family business. With his siblings he continued his father's ideal. In October 2000, Ma. Erlinda R. Sibal assumed the presidency and a younger sister, Ma. Pilar Fatima Sibal-Balbin, became the executive vice-president.

"We want to give Filipino authors a chance," the Sibals assert. "We want to give these brilliant teachers a chance to earn extra money so they can stick to their profession. We want to help improve not only the quality of education but also the quality of life of our teachers."

Today, Phoenix is in its golden years. It has remained true to its commitment and continues to blaze new trails in teaching through innovative texbooks and other instructional materials. Fueled by the aspirations of its founders, Phoenix, a pioneer in Philippine crafted books in the fifties, pioneers Transformative Education in the new century.

Phoenix Publishing House, Inc. will continue its tradition of publishing excellence to guide the future generations of teachers and students in achieving their goals for a transformed society.