Looks like Davao City will soon follow suit with Cebu City as it will open the doors to its 4-storey, 24/7 open public library by April 2019.

Davao City Vice Mayor Bernard Alag confirmed the good news to Dabawenyos last week. He promised that the Davao City Library and Information Center will be modern and complete with computers and fast internet service. There will even be a special space specifically for teachers.

The P40-million project was made with the local government’s partnership with Gawad Kalinga and Big Bad Wolf that promised to fill the library with books.

Vice Mayor Alag said the project is part of Mayor Sara Duterte’s 10-point agenda, which aims to “increase the literacy of our children and to make the public library more accessible to the people.”

Gawad Kalinga executive director Luis Oquiñena strongly supported Davao City’s vision. He said, “Those who are out on the streets, we want them to be in the library, to read books. We hope it will become a place where people can really discover the love for books, and for book lovers, a place where they can really read. We should be putting a lot of titles there.”

Aside from Davao City, Gawad Kalinga is looking at building 20 more libraries across the country, with more than half of them to be constructed in Mindanao.