CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City’s Devotee City is set to open this Friday as scheduled near the Cebu Central Post Office at the side of Plaza Independencia.
The container vans that will be used have already been delivered and the City Hall personnel have started setting it up altogether yesterday.
A total of 30 container vans were lent by Cokaliong Shipping Lines for the Devotee City, according to the city’s News and Information Team.
These vans can accommodate 600 to 700 devotees of Señor Santo Niño who are from outside Cebu City.
City Councilor Francis Esparis, chairman of the committee on social services in the City Council, personally supervised the transfer of the vans to its current location along with Cebu’s shipping magnate Chester Cokaliong.
Last year, the city government was able to accommodate around 500 out-of-town devotees who were limited with their budget.
For those who want to avail of the free accommodation, the Devotee City will start accepting devotees at 6 a.m. on Friday.
All of them have to register for proper documentation and for safety and security reasons. This will be a “first come, first serve” basis.
The Devotee City will be formally opened by Mayor Michael Rama after a mass at the said area.
Donations on food and drinks for the visiting devotees are expected again this time, just like in the past to ease the burden of these out-of-towners.
Blood assistance unit
Meanwhile, the Sub-national Blood Center for Visayas-Department of Health (SNBCV) will set-up a temporary satellite blood assistance unit within the premises of the DOH-7 along Osmeña Boulevard, Cebu City.
DOH-7 issued this advisory in line with the upcoming 2024 Sinulog Festivity and the anticipated road closures, rerouting schemes, the anticipated heavy traffic and influx of devotees and tourists on January 21, at the South Road Properties (SRP).
It said that this satellite Blood Services Unit (BSU) is solely intended for releasing and distribution of blood components to all Blood Service Facilities within the Blood Services Network during the festival to ensure a smooth, continuous, and expedient delivery of services to their clients.
The satellite BSU will operate for 24 hours from January 20 to 21, 2024.
During the satellite BSU operation, the SNBCV at the SRP will be closed and normal operations will resume on Monday, January 22.
Further, all blood services facilities are enjoined to make prior bulk blood requests at SNBCV in preparation for the festivities.
Traslacion
On the other hand, a traffic advisory was issued by the Lapu-Lapu City Traffic Management System (CTMS) on Traslacion 2024, happening on January 19 and 20, 2024.
On January 19 at 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. the following day, all roads leading to Lapu-Lapu City Public Market will be closed to vehicular traffic to give way to the Traslacion for Fiesta Señor Santo Niño.
While the road to be temporarily closed is the whole stretch of G.Y. Dela Serna (from the corner of Mantaue Road up to the corner of P. Rodriguez Street in Looc).
For the Traslacion route, the whole stretch of P. Rodriguez Street up to the corner of G.Y. Dela Serna Street from the 1st street of Canjulao junction A. Tumulak Street corner S. Osmeña Street from the corner of Ceres Road towards G.Y. Dela Serna Street.
MI 03B routes shall take Hoops Dome Road and vice versa until the Traslacion will end.
All PUJ/FILCAB bound to the public market shall take Maximo V. Patalingjug Avenue, turn right on Sangi Road straight towards Caltex Punta Rizal as their temporary loading and unloading area, then back to their destinations.
All MI 03A (Cordova Public Market Bound) temporary loading and unloading areas are at the corner of Caltex Chevron Road, corner P. Rodriguez Street.
All private vehicles are advised to take any alternative route to their desired destinations, especially to Cebu City and Mandaue City.
All tricycles bound for barrios will temporarily load and unload their passengers at the Gusa Humay-Humay Basketball Court.
All tricycles bound for Babag will temporarily load and unload their passengers at the converging area at P. Rodriguez corner, Dad Cleland Street, Lapu-Lapu City. — (FREEMAN)