TACLOBAN CITY—The signage is huge and screaming and could not be missed on the city’s busiest thoroughfare—a bazaar for imported surplus products. In some other days, a sound system blares to catch the attention of passersby.
As one of the city’s most important landmarks, the People’s Center and Library (PCL) is mostly remembered with fondness among Taclobanons. In the olden days, PCL is a favorite venue for cultural activities, conventions, graduations, balls, and even wedding and debut of the city’s influential people. It is an important legacy of the bygone Marcos era.
But what remains now is a decrepit and dilapidated building with moss growing on the walls, the ceilings are longtime gone and never repaired, and very much wanting a repainting for over two decades now.
What used to be a source of pride among Taclobanons is now a source of shame that should be hid from visitors.
“We are ashamed to show this to visitors,” said businessman Wilson Uy, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Tacloban-Leyte chapter. “We cannot bring our visitors to show that we have one of the best libraries, because the first thing that they will see is a surplus bazaar.”
Uy said there is a “seemingly lack of concern” on the part of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) “to properly care, manage and preserve the aesthetic value and utility of the center as a high-end convention hall.”
In November last year Uy sent a letter to PCGG Officer in Charge Danilo Richard Daniel, calling his attention to the sorry condition of the building. It urged the agency to rehabilitate the building, “in order to optimize its potential as a fully functional convention center, as well as a tourist icon” of the city.
“It is a laudable proposal, so we can preserve one of our most important historical sites,” Tacloban City Councilor Jerry Uy said.
The PCL, and the Santo Niño Shrine were among the prominent structures built during the Marcos regime. Both the Santo Niño Shrine and the PCL are in tourism brochures promoted by the city government and the Department of Tourism’s regional office. The ground floor of the imposing neoclassical center is a huge social hall that can accommodate a crowd of about 2,000 people.
The second floor houses the public library, with a vast collection of historical documents; a collection of dioramas of the 82 ethnic tribes in the country; a compilation of books on a vast variety of subject matter; and antique tables and chairs along the hallway.
While bargain hunters are busy looking for “treasures” among the heap of secondhand items from Japan at the bazaar, the library on the second floor is deserted most of the time. But for booklovers the stacks of books at the library are real treasures, many are rare copies and may no longer be available even in online bookstores.
“Most Leyteños do not realize how much a treasure we have here. This is a real treasure trove,” said Ypille Mia Tirse, a former nurse in the United States. Tirse and four of her book-loving friends formed core of initiating volunteerism to clean the books, many of them are already infested with termites due to decades of neglect.
The library has 14 big rooms filled with books on shelves 15 feet high. One room serves as the Leyte provincial library, and run by a licensed librarian paid by the provincial government. The rest are administered by the PCGG, which administers both the PCL and the nearby Santo Nino Shrine, both sequestered properties.
The PCGG office occupies one room surrounded by books and manned by only one person, PCGG Administrator Renor Dauag. He takes charge of both buildings, acts as the librarian and takes charge of collecting P20 library fee, which is set aside to buy floor wax.
Large volumes of books by renowned authors, like Victor Hugo, Leo Tolstoy, Albert Camus, Franz Kafka, Anton Chekhov and the likes, gather in one room on literature. There is also a large collection of what may be a complete work of French novelist Honoré de Balzac, whose writings influenced the likes of Emile Zola, Charles Dickens and Henry James.
There is hardbound compilation of Munsey’s Magazine that dates back from late-1890s to early- 1900s. Researchers on evolution of anti-apartheid campaign in the US will be interested on the compilation of Journal of Negro History that was published from 1925 to 1942.
Despite the good available resources, there are very few people come to visit the library. PCGG’s Dauag said during regular classes, only around 50 people come to read a month. He said students find it easier to just do their research on the Internet.
But booklovers believe the rigors of doing the research on a library is still a lot better than relying on what is available on the Internet.
During Supertyphoon Yolanda, hundreds of families took shelter in the building. Dauag said some books were used by the occupants as fuel when they cook food.
The library is dim, but well ventilated with fresh air from trees outside. It could be ideal for relaxed reading if not for the noise from the bazaar on the ground floor. PCGG has rented out the area to a secondhand bazaar to cover the operation and administrative expense for both buildings.
“This is for our survival,” Dauag said. The P100,000 monthly rent plus minimal earnings from the library fees and entrance fee charged to visitors of the Santo Niño Shrine cover the salary of 21 staff working on rotation and maintenance operation.
There is no budget coming from the national government for their operation because litigation is still ongoing to determine the rightful owner of the place.
The Tacloban City government has once offered to fund some repairs at the shrine but was dissuaded by the Commission on Audit because doing so would get them liable for graft.
In a position sent to PCGG last year, PCCITL expressed its displeasure for the way the building was managed “and for allowing the deterioration of the Center to its present state”.
The chamber, in its position paper, said “the Center will ultimately lose its functionality as intended” if no repairs are done. It asked the agency to appropriate funds for the repair or collaborate with either some private investors or the local government units to restore and make the Center a competitive convention center.
Uy, however, said it may not be easy for the city government to allot money for its repairs due to the legal proceedings to determine its actual owner.
He said one action that can be done is to execute a memorandum of agreement between the national government and PCGG that will allow the city set aside money for this.
“The city has to be careful because of the legal implications. It don’t want the Commission on Audit running after the city government,” he said.
Image credits: Elmer Recuerdo