'Balikbayan' brings books to the countryside

This story was taken from www.inq7.net

http://news.inq7.net/regions/index.php?index=2&story_id=74025First posted 11:07pm (Mla time) April 29, 2006
By Hazel P. Villa
Inquirer

IN books, we read stories of courage and determination amidst the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," as the bard William Shakespeare would put it. Ilonggo balikbayan Napoleon P. Paclibar Sr., 68, was so inspired by the stories he read that he wants Filipinos to be equally inspired and find answers in their collective quest for progress. So far, since 1997, more than 50 schools and institutions in Panay Island and other areas of the Philippines have been recipients of volumes of books, magazines and audio-visual materials from this native of Barangay Gines Viejo, Passi City, who worked in the shipyards of the US Navy for 38 years. By Paclibar's own estimate alone, the books and magazines that he has donated in the name of the Tomas and Victoria Paclibar Foundation, named after his parents, may amount to more than P58 million. Some of the books he bought from publishers and bookstores while the others came from US libraries and private citizens. He would ride in his sedan or pick-up, get the books from sources and ship them to the Philippines. Donating books seems to be such an all-consuming passion for Paclibar that he goes home to Passi City at least six times a year from his home in San Francisco, California to deliver the books or receive certificates of appreciation from the many schools lucky enough to receive dictionaries, encyclopedias, or complete collections of National Geographic and other expensive magazines. His philanthropy has earned him the monicker "Mr. Books" and he proudly introduces himself by that name when meeting people or answering the telephone. He was also instrumental in putting up six reading centers in selected barangays of Passi City, Pototan and Dingle towns in Iloilo and has sent more than 10 scholars to college. "Anyone can have the opportunity to put something in his or her head as long as there are books," said Paclibar, an alumnus of the Iloilo School of Arts and Trade (now known as Western Visayas College of Science and Technology), which is a recipient of most of his books. The WVCST has a special place in the heart of Paclibar as it was instrumental in giving him the breaks that led to his philanthropy. In turn, his alma mater cited him on Sept. 9, 2005 as one of its 100 Most Outstanding Tradeans of the Century in the field of Community and Philanthropic Service when the WVCST celebrated its centennial. Interesting life Paclibar's life is as interesting as the contents of the fiction and autobiographical books that he donates and his early years as a farm boy, houseboy and stevedore formed the mindset that has made him a philanthropist of sorts. Morning of June 4, 1956. 18-year-old Napoleon Paclibar had no breakfast as usual and was praying like he had never prayed before as he walked fast from the house towards the church, a mile away. He was up against 5,300 applicants all over the Philippines and the US Civil Service Commission will take only 30 young men who will pass the four written exams, three interviews, and two physical exams to be privileged scholars of a US government-sponsored apprenticeship in various courses. The first honor graduate of Passi Central School had tried his luck in Manila after finishing high school with a Technical Curriculum Course in Woodworking at the Iloilo School of Arts and Trade. After a year, he has had enough of the travails of an unpaid houseboy and lowly paid stevedore at the US Naval Base in Subic Bay that tears streamed down his face as he begged God to give him a chance at the US Civil Service Exam. The eldest of 10 children of Tomas and Victoria Paclibar never tires of telling listeners how, in a span of three months, he went back and forth to the examination room until he became the only applicant from Eastern and Western Visayas, and one of the luckiest 30 (and one of three high school graduates up against professionals) to receive the boilermaking scholarship which is equivalent to a bachelor's degree. The scholarship paved the way for him to become an apprentice boilermaker at the US Naval Base in Subic Bay all the way to various positions that led him to the United States until he retired in 1995 as Quality Assurance Specialist (Inspector/Surveyor) for Shipbuilding, Department of Defense, US Navy. Paclibar now leads a comfortable life, confident that his nine children (one son died of cancer in Feb. 16, 2002) with wife Clemencia Delantar-Paclibar are stable with their own jobs and families. "I could travel around the world and live a very relaxed life but I choose to come back to the Philippines and make sure that young children get a good education," said Paclibar, who learned to count and recite the alphabet under the shade of the santol tree in the early 1940s. Inspiration His difficult life as a young student serves as his inspiration in encouraging young people to read often and study well. "All I had were banana leaves for paper and sharpened bamboo sticks as pencil," said Paclibar, who, as a child during World War II, saw first hand the generosity of his mother, which he says he would never forget. "There was so much starvation during the Japanese occupation. People were dying from eating ill-prepared kayos (root crop which is poisonous unless cooked well). We had rice just enough for us, but one woman begged my mother for some food and she gave half of our rice to her," said Paclibar in rough Kinaray-a, the dialect of Passi City. Sending books from the US to be distributed in far-flung schools, where students have yet to see colorful pictures on glossy paper, remains Paclibar's priority.