1,200 SIGN UP TO STAY IN DEVOTEE CITY

Governor Davide, Mayor Osmeña lead opening of Devotee City, an 88-room temporary shelter that can accommodate up to 1,760 devotees

Gov. Hilario Davide III, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Devotee City chairman Roberto Cabarrubias officially opened the Devotee City for the Sinulog yesterday.

The Devotee City has 88 makeshift rooms that can accommodate 20 people each. The residents will also be segregated by gender. As of yesterday afternoon, some 1,200 have registered to stay at the shelter with more expected to arrive today.

Cabarrubias said he plans to install another set of shipping containers next year to increase the capacity of the two-storey temporary housing. The community features improvised rooms made from container vans and has metal railings and stairs.

Cabarrubias said that the container vans were borrowed from a shipping line company and were transported to the site using heavy equipment provided by the Cebu Province.

The community is complete with five shower rooms, 20 portable toilets and a shared open fire burner. It is guarded round the clock by two policemen.

Most of the residents taking temporary shelter are from Toledo, Bogo, Bacolod and Pinamungajan, who are either selling or are celebrating their annual devotion to Sto. Niño.

Rosalie Edoloverio, who is from Toledo and has been selling candles since she was 16, has brought her whole family for this year’s Sinulog.

She said that she will be staying in the temporary shelter for the 35th time this year. /