CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Cebu City Public resumed its 24/7 operations on Tuesday, July 23.

New Cebu City Mayor Edgar Labella made the announcement on his Facebook page, saying that in addition to resuming operations, “more services” would be added to the public library.

Since July 1, the library had been operating from 8 am to 12 midinght.

Labella had earlier promised that he would reopen the library 24/7  while working on replacing staff members whose contracts expired or not renewed by the new administration.

“If there is any program that proves beneficial to the people of the City of Cebu, by all means, let us continue. Let’s stop politicking. Let’s stop partisan posturing,” the first-time mayor said on July 1. (READ: Labella assures Cebuanos city library will resume 24-hour services)

The library began its round-the-clock operations in 2018 after student Mitch Roldan made a request to then-mayor Tomas Osmeña on Facebook to extend library hours to give students a place to study for free.

Library management reported earlier this year that there was a 296% increase in the number of visitors, or a total of 103,000 since the library’s 24-hour operations. This was up from the 26,000 library visitors in 2017.

Spanish, Japanese, and Korean classes were also added to the library’s services earlier this year.

The city’s public library is the first 24-hour public library in the Philippines.

Shortly after Cebu, it was announced that the Quezon City Public Library was open to all-day operations, while Davao City said it would do the same for its public library this year. – Rappler.com