ORMOC CITY – Twenty (20) barangays of this city became recipients of bookshelves and books from LGU-Ormoc as a part of addressing and coping with literacy issues among schoolchildren.
The unveiling and turnover of bookshelves and books to the fully functioning reading centers in various barangays was led by City Mayor Lucy Torres Gomez during the Punong Barangay General Membership Meeting on August 6, 2025.
Barangay recipients include Barangay Cagbuhangin, Ipil, Macabug, Margen, South, Alta Vista, Camp Downes, Nasunogan, RM Tan, Valencia, Luna, Milagro, Tongonan, Cogon, Doña Feliza Mejia, Donghol, Cabulihan, Danao, Green Valley, and East.
The Punong Barangays from said barangays gaily received the books and bookshelves, as witnessed by Ormoc City Councilors Caren Torres Rama, Ari Larrazabal, Edmund Kierulf, Tommy Serafica, Gerry Penserga, Peter Rodriguez, and Kia Mercadal, Liga ng mga Barangay (LNMB) President Esteban Laurente, and City Local Government Operations Officer (CLGOO) Rafunzel Bero.
The LGU program aims to foster a love for reading among youth, promoting its significance as a meaningful escape from reality and fostering a genuine love for learning. Late last year, LGU-Ormoc inaugurated reading and learning centers in several barangays to foster in kids a love of reading, helping them appreciate the importance of books and boosting their imagination.
Accordingly, approximately 18 million Filipinos who are graduates from the country’s basic education system could be functionally illiterate, according to data from the Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS). This was discovered by the Senate Committee on Basic Education during its April 30, 2025 hearing on the initial results of the latest FLEMMS, conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority in the second half of 2024. By Gwen Maurillo (EV Mail AUGUST 4-10, 2025 issue)
