Capitol donates P650 thousand for Sinulog devotee city

CEBU, Philippines — The Capitol has donated P650,000 to the Cebu City government to help defray expenses for the rental of container vans for the devotee city.

Provincial Sports Commissioner Ramil Abing said the amount was higher compared to P500,000 last year. He said it will be up to the city government to determine how many container vans will be rented using the funds provided by the provincial government.

Aside from providing the place to stay, the Capitol will also be lending its manpower to help ensure the safety of the devotees at the temporary shelter.

Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Officer Baltazar Tribunalo said emergency responders from across the province will be assigned to serve. Some will be deployed starting today while the bulk of the personnel will serve on the day of the solemn procession and the grand parade.

The two new rescue trucks of the provincial government will also be used. One will be stationed near the Basilica Minore del Sto. Nino while the other will be stationed at the designated headquarters. Last year, the headquarters was at the Cebu Technological University main campus.

PDRRMO Emergency Response Division head Raffy Luche said that many responders from the cities and towns have expressed interest to serve and have a well-trained unit. Among the local government units that will be sending their rescue team include Alegria, Dumanjug, Carcar City, San Fernando, Toledo, Ronda, Medellin, Tabogon, and Danao City.

A meeting will be held today spearheaded by the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) together with the PDRRMO and other teams which are part of the response cluster of the region to finalize their plans.

Luche said that since the devotee city started out as a tent city in 1995, the provincial government has been very active in helping because majority of the people staying there are from the province.

He recalled that there were around 3,300 occupants at the devotee city last year. Over 2,000 of which are from the southern part of Cebu while the remaining number are from the northern part.

On top of the PDRRMO, staff members from the Provincial Health Office (PHO) will also be deployed not only in the tent city but also along the route of the solemn procession and the grand parade.—  FPL (FREEMAN)