XiJEN College

There’s a famed bar in Manila named “The Library” established in the 80’s but I would prefer to reminisce on the library of my childhood.  I am referring to the Provincial Library in Bontoc- a place to spend time and feed your mind.  The American designed building using similar materials the Provincial Capitol was built on- was an ideal place to read and get lost in another world.  The library, a single wooden, stone and cement structure was under the canopy of ornamental “Fire Trees” and the “Ipil” tree with its signature yellow flowers.  The red roof –the same color of paint on the roof of the Provincial Capitol identifies that it is a government building. 

After college (1988), I was then not inclined to search for a job (as there really was not one to be found in the community) and preferred to hang out at the library.  My friends, Brentford Ayochok and Clifford Felwa were in the same boat- we were all jobless and fresh out of college.  We then spent lazy afternoons in the corner of the library where we had an entire cabinet of Reader’s Digest and National Geographic (hand me downs from Asia Foundation, published in the 60’s and 70’s).   Mrs. Andaya, our amiable librarian would leave us alone-exchanging pleasantries for a brief moment and announcing the arrival of “new” issues of National Geographic which were actually published 10 years earlier.  As we read through the pages of the magazine we were eventually hurled into the abyss of the narratives about the Sahara Desert, the Lions of Africa, the North Pole and a thousand and one topics.  Oh the photographs were so vivid; the objects of photography could virtually jump out of the pages and would help complete the story.  Thus was the joy of reading, it allows your mind to create images of what is being read.  The hours spent reading gets you into a spell- a feeling you could not describe so well in words.  It is only in reading where your sense of imagination is sharpened as it forces your brain to interpret the words in vivid images- just like watching a movie.  But it is a movie your mind creates as your eye moves on to the printed words.  The library was our Internet.  It was a World Wide Web in non electronic format.  Yes the web sites were in a hard copy format.  The smell of the musty pages, the feel of crisp paper, and the colored photographs that filled the entire page are things you missed out when comparing the experience to web surfing.   This is something I could not let my kids to experience.  While they may be immersed in coloring books, today’s kids have a shorter attention span and have a better inclination to things electronics.  My four year old son could not yet read and write but he could memorize the alphabets that form the domain name- to his favorite online computer game.

Sadly, I no longer see young people immersed in reading.  They belong to a generation of visual learners.  Like ducks to water, they could quickly learn to handle the mouse and figure out icons on the PC’s desktop.

As I stand in what used to be the library (replaced by a “mammoth” concrete structure), memories come flooding in.  Gone are the Fire Trees that used to surround the plaza with bursts of flame red flowers.  Bontoc has hurled itself into the hustle and bustle of a growing community.  Land mark structures with classic designs which are truly works of art are fast being gobbled by boxy concrete and poorly designed structures.

If you look at the old pictures of Bontoc, there was some sense and sensibilities put into designing the community.  The avenue starting from the bridge in Samoki up to the “Circle” is an epitome of good planning.   The stairways leading to the Provincial Capitol reminds us of the seat of power in this province.

We need to preserve and be more conscious of the design of the structures that would form part of the future landscape of Bontoc.

Now this is where I am excited about, collaborate with my students at Xijen College of Mountain Province to work on a 3D model of Bontoc using the 3D (3 Dimensional) Program of Google Earth.  By developing a 3D model of Bontoc, we can show to our local officials and the rest of the world a walk-through of Bontoc.  A preview of the town in 3D could bring in benefits like “urban” planning, tourism potentials even security planning.  I shall discuss on these developments in my future write ups on Tech Talk.  Have a nice weekend.