Growing Wings: St. La Salle Preschool Lending Library

Last February, Carla Pacis set up a storytelling workshop for parents of St. La Salle Preschool. Thanks to Chichi Ferrer for allowing Carla and I to meet the parents of the school. Early June of this year, I got an email from Carla bearing good news from Chichi --

Just wanted to let you know that we have set up a lending library in the preschool out of the books that Zarah had donated. We placed a bookcase inside the school, so that the parents can look at the books. We are all excited about this and we are hoping that the parents will use it and read to their children at home. We are hoping to build on this lending library with the donated books from previous years that we don't really use as it is for elementary children. For now, we are starting with a small collection to see the parents' response to it.

Apparently, one of Chichi's former students in De La Salle University-Taft, Anna Bella Yu, got wind of the activity and scheduled a similar workshop for parents of Brgy. Corazon de Jesus, San Juan. Anna Bella is part of a non-government organization whose work involves child care and feeding program in the community. After some email exchanges, Carla and I were ate the barangay hall giving a talk to parents of the community. Anna Bella and her group has donated 300 books for the reading center of the barangay and our presence there that Saturday in July helped parents realize the importance of reading.

Parents shared their dreams and ambitions for their children. They talked about challenges that they face every day. They read the books and gave short, substantial book talks. Typical of every activity in the Philippines, it ended with merienda and "picture-picture".

We definitely look forward to news, good or otherwise, of this barangay's progress in creating a reading center and parents read to their children.

Senate Bill No. 1428

A repost from Madame Fe Angela Verzosa's Facebook note -

ALL cities and municipalities nationwide should have a library or reading centers equipped with electronic library services, Sen. Loren Legarda said yesterday.

“All our public libraries should adhere to the demands of a globalized Filipino nation,” she said. Legarda noted that at present, there are only 1,136 public libraries, just a fraction of the libraries or reading centers that need to be set up in the 41,980 barangays and 1,618 cities and municipalities.

She filed Senate Bill No.1428 which tasks the National Library and Department of the Interior and Local Government to establish additional public libraries to serve all congressional districts, cities and municipalities as well as reading centers in every barangay except in cities or municipalities where there are existing public libraries or in barangays where there are existing reading centers.

SBN 1428 recommends a continuous funding for additional textbooks and the latest computer and electronic library facilities to make sure that Filipino students have access to a wide variety of up-to-date learning materials.

”The spirit of Senate Bill No. 1428 is to continuously encourage the passion for reading and seeking of new knowledge. Education is our greatest gift to the children of today who will be the leaders of tomorrow,” Legarda said.

You can download the full text of the SBN 1428 here: http://www.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/89767519!.pdf