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The state of Tacloban’s local library: Can propriety stand in the face of need?
The People's Center and Library in Tacloban City, Leyte still houses more than 100 families. Books were reportedly used by evacuees for kindling and toilet paper during the first few days after Typhoon Yolanda hit. Photo by Mark Zambrano
Super typhoon Yolanda made everyone and everything equal like no other event in Philippine history before it. It did not choose which lives and livelihoods to disrupt, which buildings to level.
And it seems that even those few buildings that did manage to withstand the raging winds and battering rains will not escape disruption. A prime example of such is the People's Center & Library of Tacloban.
Former president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos had the library built in 1979. By virtue of containing some valuable books on the history of both Leyte and the Philippines, it is considered a heritage site.
Today, the library also contains some one hundred families who had no choice but to take cover there when Yolanda struck and continue to seek shelter from the elements—some have even set up shops and carinderias.
It may horrify bookworms, historians, and academics, but there have been reports of evacuees using the pages of books as toilet paper and fodder for fires.
But when one has survived a storm with very little barring the clothes on their back and relief goods still appear slow to arrive, does one truly have a choice? Can propriety still stand in the face of need?
According to the Presidential Commission on Good Government, the damage to the library worsened after the families settled down at the second floor, where the library is located.
“Yung nakarating na information sa amin sa mga taga-PCGG na yung mga pages ng mga libro na ginagamit na panggatong, ginagamit na pang-trapo,” said assistant librarian Noemi Duarte in a 24 Oras video Wednesday.
“May mga ihi na nakalagay sa bottle ng mga softdrinks. Mga garbage, nandiyan lang,” Duarte added.
Indeed, the prospect of cleaning up the library seems overwhelming. A few rooms are indeed strewn with litter and some antique tables and chairs have been used callously. To begin with, many of the books and their very shelves were already on their way to decay—the pages are stuck together thanks to flooding; the shelves are coated in layers of dust; the roof, windows, and walls are shattered and caved in.
However, residents deny Duarte's comments.
Community leader Jerome Espinosa said, “Hindi po 'yon katotohanan. Kasi po hindi naman siguro lahat ng libro pinanggatong nila. Siguro may ilan silang nakikitang libro na nagamit na. Hindi ko naman po kasi nakita noong time na 'yon, wala pa po yung committee dito.”
As of yet, the local government has yet to come up with a solid plan regarding transferring the evacuees elsewhere. — Vida Cruz/BM, GMA News
And it seems that even those few buildings that did manage to withstand the raging winds and battering rains will not escape disruption. A prime example of such is the People's Center & Library of Tacloban.
Former president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos had the library built in 1979. By virtue of containing some valuable books on the history of both Leyte and the Philippines, it is considered a heritage site.
Today, the library also contains some one hundred families who had no choice but to take cover there when Yolanda struck and continue to seek shelter from the elements—some have even set up shops and carinderias.
It may horrify bookworms, historians, and academics, but there have been reports of evacuees using the pages of books as toilet paper and fodder for fires.
But when one has survived a storm with very little barring the clothes on their back and relief goods still appear slow to arrive, does one truly have a choice? Can propriety still stand in the face of need?
According to the Presidential Commission on Good Government, the damage to the library worsened after the families settled down at the second floor, where the library is located.
“Yung nakarating na information sa amin sa mga taga-PCGG na yung mga pages ng mga libro na ginagamit na panggatong, ginagamit na pang-trapo,” said assistant librarian Noemi Duarte in a 24 Oras video Wednesday.
“May mga ihi na nakalagay sa bottle ng mga softdrinks. Mga garbage, nandiyan lang,” Duarte added.
Indeed, the prospect of cleaning up the library seems overwhelming. A few rooms are indeed strewn with litter and some antique tables and chairs have been used callously. To begin with, many of the books and their very shelves were already on their way to decay—the pages are stuck together thanks to flooding; the shelves are coated in layers of dust; the roof, windows, and walls are shattered and caved in.
However, residents deny Duarte's comments.
Community leader Jerome Espinosa said, “Hindi po 'yon katotohanan. Kasi po hindi naman siguro lahat ng libro pinanggatong nila. Siguro may ilan silang nakikitang libro na nagamit na. Hindi ko naman po kasi nakita noong time na 'yon, wala pa po yung committee dito.”
As of yet, the local government has yet to come up with a solid plan regarding transferring the evacuees elsewhere. — Vida Cruz/BM, GMA News
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