ORMOC CITY — Literacy is going mobile in Leyte. In a move to bridge the education gap and keep children engaged during the summer break, the Ormoc City government has officially launched the “Ormoc City Traveling Library.”
Instead of waiting for students to find their way to a central library, the city is bringing the library to them. A truck filled with a carefully curated collection of books is now roving through the city’s 85 barangays, turning street corners and community centers into pop-up reading hubs.
The initiative, led by Mayor Lucy Torres-Gomez, isn’t just about dumping old textbooks into a van. The library’s collection was built based on “wish lists” submitted by the students themselves, ensuring that the titles available are ones children actually want to pick up.
“We need to bring the books nearer to the people,” Mayor Torres-Gomez said during the launch. “We want them to touch the book, read the book. This is the fastest way to engage our children and sustain learning outside the classroom.”
The project was unveiled this week in tandem with the hosting of the National Schools Press Conference (NSPC) 2026. Education Secretary Sonny Angara, who joined the Mayor for the rollout, praised the initiative as a critical step in fixing foundational literacy.
“By prioritizing foundational literacy, we have already won half the battle,” Angara noted. “The real challenge is getting our kids to love reading. If we do that, we secure a brighter future for our students.”
The mobile library is designed to stay in each barangay for about a week, giving residents ample time to explore the resources before moving to the next location. The program has been so well-received that the city is already planning to deploy up to three traveling libraries to ensure every corner of Ormoc is covered.
As the summer heat rolls in, Ormoc is betting that a good book under a shaded tree might be exactly what the next generation needs to keep their minds sharp and their imaginations growing.