Dr. Ernesto Y. Sibal was one of the few Filipinos in academic publishing who can irrefutably lay claim to these three titles—Patriot, Pioneer and Innovator. A staunch patriot, Dr. Sibal fiercely advocated the vision of designating Filipino-authored books for young Filipino learners. This vision was enabled by the establishment of Alemar’s Bookstore in 1958, and through the foresight and drive of Alegria Rodriguez, who shared in the vision of her husband, she helped galvanize then fledgling Alemar's Bookstore as the place to go for textbooks and school needs, propelling it to become the first established bookstore chain in the country.