Calgary, 25 April 2024 – The Airdrie Public Library has received from the Philippine National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) a brass metal signature of Dr. José Rizal. 

The metal signature of the Philippine national hero, a donation of the NCCA, will be displayed in the Rizal Meeting Room of the new library building which is expected to open to the public in June 2025. 

The NCCA made the donation after the meeting between Consul General Zaldy Patron and NCCA Chair Victorino Manalo in Manila on 29 February 2024,  wherein  the former suggested to the latter to give the Airdrie Public Library the metal signature of the national hero to enhance the prestige of the Library’s Rizal Meeting Room.

The item was shipped from Manila to the Philippine Consulate General in Calgary before Consul General Patron turned it over to Ms. Deb Cryderman, Director of the Airdrie Public Library,  during a simple ceremony at the library on 23 April 2024.

Witnessing the event were Councilor Tina Petrow of the City of Airdrie and the officers of the Knights of Rizal chapters in Airdrie and Calgary in Alberta, Canada.

The naming of the Dr. Jose Rizal Meeting Room at the Airdrie Public Library is a project of the Knights of Rizal and is being spearheaded by its Airdrie Chapter.

Consul General Zaldy B. Patron (center left) and Ms. Deb Cryderman, Director of the Airdrie Public Library (center right), with Airdrie City Councillor Tina Petrow (2nd from left), Deputy Consul General Victorio M. Dimagiba, Jr. (right), and the other officials of the Airdrie Public Library at the turnover of the Rizal metal signature.

“I wish to thank the NCCA for making this donation to the Airdrie Public Library which will add prominence to the Rizal Meeting Room of the Library’s upcoming building,” stated Consul General Patron.

Consul General Zaldy B. Patron (4th from left), Councillor Tina Petrow (center), and Ms. Deb. Cryderman of the Airdrie Public Library (fourth from right) with the officers of the Knights of Rizal chapters in Airdrie and Calgary in Alberta, Canada.

Airdrie’s Nose Creek Regional Park is also the home of the Dr. Jose Rizal Monument, a project initiated and led by the Philippine Consulate General in Calgary and undertaken in partnership with the Airdrie City Council, the Filipino Airdrie Association, and the Rizal Monument Project Team. 

Unveiled to the public on 23 October 2021, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines designated the monument on 19 June 2022 as a Philippine historical site.