Thanks to the free publicity given by a Filipino official to the latest novel of American author Dan Brown, Inferno, the book's sale increased by 50 per cent in the Philippines.

Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, was characterised by Mr Brown as the gates of hell, which elicited a response from Francis Tolentino, the chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), who belied the description.

He even insisted that Manila is the gates to heaven because the Philippines is the only Catholic country in Asia and has many pious residents. While the furor created by Mr Tolentino made a lot of noise in the Web world, many Filipinos agreed that parts of Manila could be hellish due to the traffic, garbage, poverty, sex trade and pollution.

The boost in Inferno's sale in the Philippines was confirmed by Xandra Ramos of National Book Store, the biggest bookstore chain in the Philippines. Given the fast sales of Inferno, it would likely outsell Mr Brown's last novel, Lost Symbol, Ms Ramos said.

In the UK, Inferno sold 230,000 copies on the first week of its release. Independent.ie, an Irish newspaper, also reported that despite critics panning Mr Brown's newest book, it had topped Amazon's book sale chart based on pre-orders and is also a best seller at e-book vendor Eason Bookstores, although no numbers were provided.

Here's Dan Brown with more details about Inferno.

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