R. Dante O. Perez: A Librarian Par Excellence

R. Dante O. Perez: A Librarian Par Excellence
by
Melchor F. Cichon
August 7, 2013

I have been writing profiles of great and near-great Filipinos. And I found it very challenging.

But when I decided to write the profile of one of the most intelligent Filipino librarians, I did not know where to start. This problem was compounded when I received a copy of his 12-page full-packed curriculum vitae.

I am referring to R. Dante O. Perez, a scholar, a bibliographer, a compiler, a leader, a lecturer, a professor, and a librarian par excellence.

I wonder what that R in his name. It reminds me of E. Arsenio Manuel, that Filipino historian.

Dante told me that: "It's one of my baptismal names but I only used R. I used it during the second semester of my freshman year when I learned that I have a maternal grandfather, brother of my maternal grandmother whom I didn't meet 'coz he died. Dr. E. Arsenio Manuel is the one I'm talking about and I dreamt to follow his footsteps. He inspired me together with his student and my Philippine History 1 professor, Dr. Isagani R. Medina."

Today, Dante said that he lives in Guam, particularly in the "island of the Chamorros and former Typhoon Capital of the Pacific, the island where Ferdinand Magellan landed on March 6, 1521 and where Saint Pedro Calungsod met his untimely death on April 2, 1672. Known as the "Island Where America's Day Begins", Guam was also the island where 58 Filipinos, notably Apolinario Mabini - Sublime Paralytic, Brains of the Revolution, 1st Foreign Affairs Secretary, and Melchora Aquino, a.k.a. Tandang Sora - Mother of the Katipunan, were exiled in 1901."

Dante, as I call him, was born on May 30, 1955 in Sta. Cruz, Manila.

He graduated Valedictorian at Tala Elementary School, Tala, Caloocan City in 1968. He then proceeded to Lourdes School in Mandaluyong, Rizal and graduated Honorable mention. In 1972, he enrolled at the University of the Philippines and graduated cum laude for his Bachelor of Library Science in 1976.

While in college, he was a recipient of the Grant-in-Aid Program, and a grantee of the Philippine Library Scholarship Council, Inc., from 1974 to 1976. Not only this, Dante was declared a College Scholar, for four semesters and became a university scholar for three semesters at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

It was also in UP Diliman where he took his Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) in Summer 2004.

While a college student, Dante worked as a Student Assistant at the UP College of Law from January 9, 1973 to June 30, 1975. He was also elected president of the U.P. Library Science Association in 1975-1976, and became a College Representative to the U.P. Student Conference in 1975-1976.

Because he graduated cum laude, he was automatically granted a First Grade Eligibility by the Philippine government, pursuant to the provision of Presidential Decree No. 907 which was signed by Pres. Ferdinand Marcos on March 11, 1976.

So when he took the Librarian Licensure Examination in 1998, it was expected that he would top the said exam. He was in the 18th place, with a rating of 81.65%.

Immediately after his graduation, Dante served as the Chief Librarian of the Institute of Labor and Manpower Studies, Department of Labor and Employment, from April 1, 1976 to December 31, 1983.

After this, Dante worked as a library consultant, cataloger, historical researcher, manager in a private enterprise, and a University Librarian of Virgen Milagrosa University Foundation, San Carlos City, Pangasinan, in January 2007-March 2009.

Dante has attended a numerous seminars and conferences in the different parts of the Philippines and abroad, the latest of which was the 22nd Pacific Islands Association of Libraries, Archives and Museums Annual Conference hosted by the Guam Library Association with the theme RESET: Information Services Trends in 2012. It was held at the Holiday Resort & Spa Guam in Tumon, Guam.

He is a member of the different professional organizations in the Philippines such as the University of the Philippine Alumni Association (UPAA), University of the Philippines Library Science Alumni Association, Inc (UPLSAAI)., the Association of Special Libraries of the Philippines (ASLP), Philippine Librarians Association, Inc (PLAI), Quezon City Librarians Association, and the Guam Library Association, where he served as Vice-President, 2012-2013.

As mentioned earlier, Dante was a lecturer in different fora and conferences in the different parts of the country.

Starting with his inspirational message delivered during the SOCOLA's 15th Anniversary Solidarity Night, in Koronlitadal City, South Cotabato, on October 25, 2001, this was followed by an unending list of talks after that. The latest in his list is his lecture on Philippine Libraries and Librarianship, 1900-2005: A Historical Perspective, at the University of the East in Sampaloc, Manila, on September 11, 2008.

As a bibliographer, Dante was a contributor to the Annotated Bibliography on Philippine Labor which was published by the Asian Labor Education Center, Law Center, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.

But his most popular work is the Directory of Licensed Librarians in the Philippines. Board for Librarians, Professional Regulation Commission, 2002.

At present, he is updating the said directory. And he has been calling for the cooperation of every Filipino librarian to send to him the necessary information that he needs for that directory.

I asked him what he thinks of the present Philippine librarians.

He said that, "Our librarians today are too dependent on technology. Gone are the days when we concentrate on our stock knowledge, being analytical and critical of every information we have. Just the making of the directory, many are hesitant to send their entries and are not really proud to be part of this intellectual endeavor."

He further believes that today's Filipino librarians should be trained as "a total person complete with physical, mental, emotional and spiritual intelligences."

He must have been thinking of the strong general education like in the University of the Philippines System's curriculum, where the students are well-trained on the various general education subjects, like English, math, humanities, history, philosophy, etc.

When I asked him on the communication and personnel management skills of the present library science graduates, his answer is clear: "yes those are part of the intelligence capacities, pero puro technical ang seminars natin dyan. We should train our librarians as real front liners in information dissemination and equip them with the knowledge of how to be a true professional."

This led me to ask him this question: " How about their compensation in general?"

"That's the problem, we're not properly compensated. If there's only a fee for every information that we provide like what doctors and lawyers charge their clients for information, we really can move on. But honestly, as the late Quintin Eala said, 'LIBRARIANSHIP IS PRIMARILY SERVICE TO FELLOWMEN".

Indeed, if only we librarians would demand for our rights, we will be able to get what is due to us for as Dante has said, "Librarianship is a unique profession."

He said that our profession is unique because we have to know all disciplines of knowledge and how to deliver them to the right person at the right time.

This indeed is in line with his philosophy which is to live to love and to serve.