‘Let’s bring libraries closer to people’

If most Filipinos find it hard and laborious to visit libraries to read books and other materials, then “let’s bring libraries closer to our people,” Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado “Dato” Macapagal Arroyo said.

“Our libraries continue to provide individuals the weapon to hurdle obstacles and the remarkable power to change,” the young Arroyo stressed as he and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo sought support for HB 4343 which proposes the establishment of mobile libraries with provisions of tactical and ingenious initiatives for its implementation and other relative and relevant purposes.

The Arroyos have expressed serious concern about the apparent decline in the utilization of libraries which is tantamount to a corresponding decline in reading, thus the necessity for the enactment of the “Mobile Libraries Act of 2011” or the MLA.

“It is the objective of the MLA to give meaning and accord full significance to the constitutional mandate of promoting one of the most vital aspects of education: reading,” said the Bicol lawmaker who is proposing a P100-million budget for its initial implementation.

He said the budgetary support, which may be sourced from the combined earnings of Pagcor and PCSO, must be continued for seven years or longer, upon reasonable determination of the usefulness, relevance and effectiveness of mobile libraries as tools for education and empowerment of citizens.

HB 4343 also provides for incentives for private corporations that will adopt, donate or establish mobile libraries. Such incentives may be granted under relevant guidelines issued by the Department of Finance.

“Mobile libraries can also engage in sponsoring livelihood programs, walking tours of historic and cultural heritage areas, socio-economic workshops and trainings and others,” Dato said.

“For the longest time, libraries have been and shall always be the engines of civilization’s progress because they are the repository of its great traditions: the gathering and dissemination of hard-won human wisdom,” he stressed.

Arroyo pointed out the library serves as the gateway to the past, the present and the future and the place where one can find the resources to examine and confront our most difficult problems.

Arroyo noted a nationwide survey on Filipino youth by McCann Erickson (Philippine Business Magazine, 2001) which showed that during free time, 88 percent watch TV, 73 percent listen to the radio, 50 percent read books, 37 percent use the Internet and 12 percent use cell phones.

Likewise in 2007, educator Patricia Licuanan in her paper “Books and Schools,” said the mentioned figures may have dramatically changed since the survey reveals the introduction of cellphone and Internet usage.

Licuanan observed “in contrast to subways in Tokyo and New York, hardly anyone reads in our MRT and LRT lines.”

Those who do, most of the time, would rather read the free tabloids offered by major broadsheets.

“In public schools, teachers lament how students no longer read, the same case once they reach their homes. Moreover, parents no longer buy and read newspapers, preferring to spend their P20 on food and transportation instead,” she said.

Poverty may not also be the sole culprit because, she added, in well-off families they often have toys and gadgets more visible than books. The increasing dominance of electronic media, including the Internet, video games and portable digital services has been found to correlate with the decline in reading.

With HB 4343, Arroyo explained he aims to bring libraries closer to users and encourage citizens to, once again, read books and other informative and useful materials.

“There is definitely no substitute to reading. Knowledge makes a man achieve greatness,” Dato said. –Charlie V. Manalo, Daily Tribune