Cozy John Hay library recalled
First posted 03:50am (Mla time) July 05, 2005
By TJ Burgonio
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on Page A1 of the July 5, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
BAGUIO CITY, Benguet -- In bygone days when Camp John Hay was considered the "Baguio experience" giving Filipinos a foretaste of American living, a trip to the library was the ultimate experience for the youngsters.
The former library, perched on a mountainside in the sprawling, pine tree-dotted rest and recreation facility for US military personnel, was more than a bibliophile's paradise.
"There were a lot of friendships forged [with the American kids] ... I forgot their names now. Back then we'd discuss and comment on [books we'd read like] what's the best Nancy Drew. [Or] if Nancy Drew and one of the Hardy Boys were a couple," said lawyer Ma. Georgina A. Alvarez, recalling her first forays into the library inside Camp John Hay.
Its steel shelves were not only stacked with collections of children's literature, fiction, nonfiction, it had biographies, books on American history, philosophy, theater and music.
Books aside, the library's shelves held other gems-a huge collection of long-playing albums-from rock to jazz to country and western to classical music, which drew its own crowd of music lovers.
While the camp mainly catered to American military personnel and their children, the library was open to its Filipino civilian employees and their dependents, as well as to outsiders who were willing to pay the annual membership fee. Borrower's cards were issued for the books and LPs.
Most of the time, Filipinos outnumbered American patrons and their children, according to Chona B. Marasigan, 50, who served as library aide and eventually as chief librarian from 1980 to 1991.
The library held story-telling sessions every Saturday and puppet shows every fourth Saturday of the month as well as a bevy of theme activities, like Peanut Month, Popcorn Month, Hobby Month and Stamp Collection Month, according to Marasigan.
"What was good was that there was interaction ... it was development for the kids. When we had puppet shows, I would invite Filipino and American children to participate. They did the puppetry themselves," she said.
On Filipino-American Friendship Day every fourth of July, the camp was open to the public, and the library held film showings of old-time war movies, among other activities.
Nothing beats reading
So it wasn't uncommon then to see families trekking on weekends to the scenic camp and parents dropping off their kids at the library, or students skipping classes on weekdays to check out the latest best-selling mystery novel or rock album.
"I have good memories of the library. It's a pity we can't afford this for the kids anymore," said Alvarez, who spent weekends at the library with her family and grew up on mystery novels. "They're so into Internet and all. Nothing beats reading a book."
"You would go around the shelves, pick out three books to your liking. Then lie down. Just find your space ... Hours would pass without you noticing it. Before you know it, your parents had come back to fetch you," Alvarez recalled.
Perfect ambiance
The American-style, single-story library had the perfect ambiance for reading: It was built on a slope of the 250-hectare mountain camp surrounded by towering pine trees. Inside, it was furnished with sofas and pastel-colored tables.
The books, mostly sourced from the Pacific Air Force Command Library Service Center in Hawaii, were all hard-bound, which made reading for some kids more pleasurable.
The young users could squat or lie down on the clean carpeted floor. There were separate shelves for record albums and, of course, a separate music lounge where one could listen to the albums inside sound-proof cubicles. In a corner was a large TV, used for viewing Walt Disney movies, among others.
Moving books
After the US military troops pulled out in 1991, the library was turned over to the government, and things were never the same again. At least 3,000 reference books were shipped back to Clark Air Base's library, the mother unit.
Between 1991 and 1996, when Camp John Hay Development Corp. (CJHDevco) won the bid to develop and manage the camp, the library's collection of books and albums was moved from one place to another, some getting lost along the way.
The old library itself was refurbished and turned into the developer's administration office, and its prized collection -- or whatever was left of these -- was moved in 2002 farther down the camp to the marketing and sales office. These are now stacked on separate ceiling-high shelves at the visitors' lounge.
As if coming full circle, Alvarez now works as senior vice president for CJHDevco's legal and corporate services and holds office in the same building where the library used to be.
Netizens
With their kids logging more time on the Net than reading stories like Harry Potter, Baguio residents are pining for the once cozy library in Camp John Hay where they discovered the pleasure of reading and devoured children's stories, classics and mystery novels with little prodding.
"Reading was very much ingrained for those of us who grew up in Baguio," Gillian Y. Cortes, 42, said. "As parents, we are concerned about how technology is impacting on our children. The habit of reading is getting low."
The nostalgia springs partly from the absence of anything like the old library in a "university city" like Baguio, home to a number of universities and colleges. The city public library is a pale shadow of this library; it offers nothing but textbooks for students and reference materials for law students, residents lamented.
Sheree M. Nolasco, an architect and managing editor of Asiageo magazine, recalled going to the library for its excellent collection of Dr. Seuss books, which were once not readily available in the country.
Sheree's husband Valentino would hang out in the library for another reason-to listen to his favorite vinyl albums.
Vinyl music
"In the '70s, you could go there if you were a dependent and listen to records. There were headphones. When we had tape recorders, we'd copy those records on cassettes. We were doing that for a long, long time. Nobody was minding us," he recalled.
But after some time, they were told that this constituted copyright infringement and were asked to stop.
Apart from the classics, rock, jazz and country and western, the library had speeches of Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King, as well as stand-up spiels of comedian Bill Cosby on vinyl, among others, according to Cortes, the camp's former vice president for marketing.
Aware of its crucial role in fostering a culture of reading among Baguio's youth, the residents voiced hopes that CJHDevco would include the library's preservation in its infrastructure development.
Culture of reading
This, they said, could create a domino effect and inspire local officials to kick off a preservation of the old Baguio and to draw up an urban development program for a city grappling with overcrowding.
But the bigger challenge, they said, was reviving the library and recreating the same climate of learning for residents.
"The climate that the library created for reading, learning, interacting-that's up to CJHDevco ... For you to continue certain traditions that John Hay started, you have to know the culture back then. If you grew up in Baguio, then you will know how to recreate or revive these traditions," Cortes said.
For now, CJHDevco executives have no immediate plans of revising the current setup, wherein visitors can use the library's remaining collection of books and albums now on display at the marketing office's lounge. The items, however, cannot be taken out.
Status quo
The developer has also acquired a turntable so visitors can listen to the albums.
They have also drawn up plans to set up a children's library and activity center at the mini-log cabin built on the center island across the marketing office.
"We don't have a system of borrowing yet ... Until such time that we have the system, we're just the keeper of the jewels. These are collector's items," said Vladimir A. Cordero, manager of CJHDevco's marketing and sales.