Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Mario A. Albalos Library: The Ilocano Pride Has Arrived

by Marge Tadeja

Cabaroan is made up of two barangays in eastern Vigan near the borders of Caoayan.  What makes Cabaroan special today is its unveiling of a humanitarian project funded by a native of the barangay who has migrated to the US  - Jenny Alcausin, a nurse.

This significant project elevates not only the entire ka-Ilocoan but also concretized the elusive ideal that every moneyed Ilocano should aspire for - returning the value of literacy back into our much degraded Philippine society.

The Mario A. Albalos Library or Biblioteka Ni Ayat.


The facade of the one-storey building library. 


Upon entry, one is greeted with the cheerful bookshelves, tables and chairs.



 The  line of colorful tables and chairs... and at the foreground are - yes - new computer sets connected online!


The library has its own wall-mounted flat-screen television, too!

The first question that comes to mind is why Ms. Jenny Alcausin sponsored this project?
The answer might be more than what ordinary mortals might grasp, but then, we can always speculate: I'd say Ms. Alcausin is enlightened. And we can always add a lot more reasons.

This unveiling of project is hoped by GUMIL officers who visited it today to open the floodgates of parading Ilocano's egos and pride in a substantial manner, beyond large houses or latest four-wheel-drive craze, that are soon abandoned by their balikbayan owners, and a lot more means of stating that "Yes, I have arrived."

But who is Mario A. Albalos?
The late Albalos is also a native of Cabaroan, one of its most studious students, one of the most prolific Bannaoag and other early  publications writers, who soon migrated to the US to become a US Navy. His hard work and leadership skills were made known not ony for the heaps of awards he received in his naval duties, but more so among his peers who called him "Mr. Make it Happen." After leaving the navy, he became so involved in community works in Hawaii that garnered him the Thomas Jefferson Award in 1979. He is bigger than life itself, as his works will soon be displayed and rediscovered by everyone who will visit the library.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you, Ms Tadeja...
    Indeed the MAA Library will always be a mystery to many of us but I did what I thought he most deserved because I felt that for those who knew him & even those who didn’t... this would be a noble way of remembering who he was, who he wanted to be & who he will be missed as.

    I will always be grateful for his being who he was... and i will always remember the good times as well as the “others” somehow he got us through them all even to life beyond.

    Through this library his legacy will last til the next generation...

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  2. I knew Mario Abalos since we joined the US Navy together in December 1971 at the Subic Naval Base Recruiting Station. We attended and graduated from bootcamp in San Diego the same time and went separate ways to report to our duty stations. He was short in stature but he did not back down at anybody even at someone almost twice his size. I remembered him slamming a white recruit's salad bowl while in the chow line because he was being picked on. I knew Mario was good because he got away from being put on disciplinary report and came back out of the chief's office with a smile in his face. We were both good during uniform inspections and got rewarded by not doing chowhall duties during service week. Our company commander issued us one electric iron each to iron out and refold all the company's problematic uniform folds. The next inspection was almost perfect except for a couple of tags so we were both given a 48 hours liberty afer graduation. Our recruit company also won the Academic Flag Award during our time in bootcamp.

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