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Mang Nanie and his sidewalk library

By Krixia Subingsubing, VERA Files

It had begun to rain on Balagtas Street, but hundreds of books on jerry-rigged shelves and rickety tables remain on the sidewalk, a free-for-all library found deep within the heart of Makati City.

An old man with unusually yellow hair toils over the shelves. With youthful energy, he briskly covers them with protective plastic, his arms enveloping them as if in loving embrace. He himself is soaked, but the books must be kept warm and dry for others.

For Hernando Guanlao, founder and caretaker of Reading Club 2000, service stops at nothing.

A life mission

At 62, Guanlao, or “Mang Nanie” as he is fondly called, shows no sign of slowing down from his work in his self-established library.

“There is no such thing as retirement from your life’s purpose,” he said.

Indeed, the spirit of a public library has always been a major driving force in his life. The second of Honorio and Felisa Guanlao’s five children, Guanlao started up his own “for-rent komiks” business when he was 8. The idea has stuck since.

Years later, he took accounting at the Philippine College of Commerce. But the accounting graduate would find himself jumping from one career to another—government official, self-employed tax remedial practitioner, ice cream vendor—consumed as he was by the pursuit of his life’s mission.

‘Aklatan sa Bangketa’

The Reading Club 2000, or the “Aklatan sa Bangketa,” is Guanlao’s child concept, or “child value,” as he prefers to call it, referring to his 13-year-old valued business.

Guanlao, who has spent his life searching for a way to help other people, regrets that he had not realized the siren call of his youth sooner.

Kung yun (the “for-rent komiks” business) ang sinunod ko, kung nasuportahan ako nung panahon na yun, di malaking malaki na yung nacover kong areas at natulungan ko (If I had only followed my ‘child value’ earlier, I would have already helped and covered a lot of areas already),” he said.

Established in 2000, the library opened with a crude collection of old books collated from the entire Guanlao family and displayed on makeshift shelves outside their ancestral home.

Over the decade, however, the books have multiplied, occupying the entire front and half the house.

In essence, the Aklatan sa Bangketa is an open library. Ungoverned by rules, people from all walks of life can come in anytime and borrow books for free—and not have to return them if they wished.

But the Aklatan is not just an idealized public library. It is a place Guanlao believes to promote giving to and helping those in need, embodying bayanihan within one’s own parameters: books.

Why books?

“I have tried so many things,” he said. “Pagkain, pera, lumang damit (Food, money, old clothes), anything that is not productive, hindi umubra (they did not work out for me). (That) can be done every day,” he said.

Deeper challenge

Sharing books, Guanlao said, is more substantial help to a nation fettered by poverty and illiteracy. This is where Aklatan ng Bangketa as a public library comes in: to help fill in the gaps caused by the lack of books in public schools and communities, to assume the responsibility of the promotion of literacy and human development among Filipinos.

Through the years, Guanlao has helped all kinds of people in his Aklatan—students looking for textbooks, strangers hoping to kill time, even concerned officials wishing to solicit his help to compensate for the lack of books in their immediate community.

But the books, he said, never dwindle. “I got proof on (these) miracles—miracles of the books. I got the faith, confidence and certainty when a single book leaves the reading center, 10 books will arrive for sure.”

The Aklatan sa Bangketa has attracted the attention of many concerned individuals and organizations in literary promotion, among them the Rotary International Club, University of the Philippines Children’s Rights Advocates League (UP-CRADLE), Tiklop Society of the Philippines and publishing houses such as Diwa and Vibal.

The continuous support by his book donors has convinced Guanlao to extend his mission beyond Metro Manila.

The Aklatan sa Bangketa also ships and delivers books to the rural areas, indigenous communities and areas beyond technology’s reach. Guanlao also encourages his book donors to send their books directly to the areas in need.

“You (have) to make it simple and not too complicated (because) the books need to reach the user immediately to serve their needs,” he said.

Guanlao highlights the importance of bringing literacy to these far-flung areas, citing the different needs of each province: Mountain Province, for example, as a farming community, is in dire need of books on agriculture.

Kailangan ng pagkilos tungkol sa bagay na ‘yan (Action needs to be done),” he said. “(The books) are treasured items for them. (Hindi) ko na sila matatalikuran. Naging part na ng everyday activity ko ng pagdala (ng) libro sa kanila (I can no longer turn my back on them. Bringing them books has become a part of my everyday activity).”

The cost of a good cause

Guanlao acknowledges the burden of his mission. But if there is anything the Reading Club 2000 has taught him, it is that helping others means sacrifice.

One library regular notes the lack of volunteers to help Guanlao maintain the Aklatan.

“There should be someone to pledge to [at least] help clean the place up,” she said, noting the dusty shelves and the books damaged from the floods. “Ano ba naman ‘yung konting oras for a good cause (What is a few hours for a good cause)?”

Indeed, the expense of rendering service never comes free. But the former accountant-turned-librarian knows there is only one way of giving: until it hurts.

“That’s the moment in time that your life will be filled with miracles,” he said.

(The writer is a Journalism student at the University of the Philippines-Diliman who submitted this story to her Journ 101 class— Introduction to Journalism—under VERA Files trustee Yvonne T. Chua. VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for “true.”))