WHAT DO TEMPORARY RESIDENTS OF CEBU'S DEVOTEES' CITY PRAY FOR?
About 3,000 devotees are now staying in the Devotee City, a temporary community built with 100 cargo containers stacked together in the Compaña Maritima Compound. They include Nerio Sulit, a 59-year-old fisherman from Bogo, and Anita Patiña, a 65-year-old woodcutter from Balamban. Sulit says he’s praying for a solemn Sinulog.
“Unsa may mapangayo sa usa ka hingkod ngadto sa usa ka bata? (What could an adult possibly ask from a child)?”
Anita Patiña threw back a question when asked what she was praying for from the Holy Child Jesus, whose miniature wooden statue she held on her right hand.
Her left arm, on the other hand, was clutching tightly about a hundred candles she will be selling outside the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño.
“I couldn’t think of anything, but for everyone to stop hate and waging wars. Let’s set aside our differences. As a child himself, I think Sto. Niño wants all the children in the world to live in peace. However, this shouldn’t be asked from a child as it’s supposed to be the role of the grown ups to create such world,” she told Sun. Star Cebu in Cebuano.
The 65-year-old woodcutter from Balamban is one of about 3,000 devotees currently taking shelter at the Devotee City in the Compaña Maritima compound.
This has 100 cargo containers stacked together to make a two-story housing compound for those who live outside Cebu City.
Anita has been selling multi-colored candles every Fiesta Señor for almost 30 years now with her husband.
While the income may not be much, she said each candle holds a prayer of peace and unity.
Nerio Sulit, a 59-year-old fisherman from the City of Bogo, is also praying for a tranquil year and a solemn Sinulog celebration.
“I would be lying if I’d say the news of bombing threats have not worried me, but my faith in Sto. Niño will always be stronger than my woes,” he said.
Nerio and his wife have been selling straw hats every Fiesta Señor they themselves have made for 25 years.
He said that more than making extra income in the city, their trade has become a tradition as well as a pilgrimage to the Holy Child Jesus.