Libraries operated by the Manila City government will get a fair share of attention and funding to promote the importance of reading and continuous learning among the youngsters and to provide the elderly a place to spend their time away.
Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said this as he and Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan led the inauguration of the newly-rehabilitated Manila City Library on Taft Avenue
They were joined by Vicente Catabijan, president of the St. Mary’s Publishing Corporation and head of the Manila City Library Mylene Villanueva.
In his speech, Domagoso thanked the staff of the city library for keeping the library clean and conducive for learning and Catabijan for donating about P1 million worth of books and reading materials.
Villanueva lauded the tandem of Domagoso and Lacuna-Pangan for providing the city library with all its needs in keeping with the times so that aside from physical reading materials, the library was now equipped with computers, laptops and wifi connection to aid the students who visit the library.
According to Villanueva, the support being given by Domagoso and Lacuna-Pangan to the library went a long way for them to fulfill their functions well.
Lacuna-Pangan said that libraries should not be treated as mere storage of books but a venue where one could change his quality of life through continued learning and information research.
For his part, Domagoso said that while most people consider Google as their new library, there was a need to continue reviving libraries and to encourage the youth to visit them, adding in the case of the elderly, reading would help sharpen their memory.
The mayor stressed the importance of libraries and recounted that as a public school student, he was always at the library browsing on physical copies of the Reader’s Digest and Current Events.
He stressed the four corners of the libraries were nooks where one could derive information and knowledge that would guide them through life.
“Hanggang ngayon, nagbabasa ako whether virtual or physical. I continue to acquire knowledge, learn from it and when there are things that are applicable to governance, I apply. Ang pag-aaral is a life-long journey kaya di tayo dapat huminto,” he said.
Domagoso commended the leaders and staff of the Manila City Library for adapting to modern times and going beyond what was expected of them by adapting to technology ang making it available to everybody.
Domagoso vowed to give the city libraries – on Taft, Canonigo and in Sta. Cruz areas – due attention.
