By Jay Ereno
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine government worker Mary Grace Burgos, 24, had several cute&nbsp;dates&nbsp;lined up for on&nbsp;Valentine's&nbsp;Day with one thing in common: they were all&nbsp;dogs&nbsp;up for adoption.
Burgos was among a dozen of people who chose to spend their&nbsp;Valentine's&nbsp;Day at an&nbsp;animal&nbsp;shelter&nbsp;in the Philippine capital. The&nbsp;shelter, run by the Philippine&nbsp;Animal&nbsp;Welfare Society (PAWS), charged guests 500 to 1,000 pesos ($9.12 - $18.24) to spend half an hour with a furry date. The entry fee will go toward running the&nbsp;shelter, which cares for over 240&nbsp;dogs&nbsp;and cats."Some of these&nbsp;dogs&nbsp;were rescued from abusive households, or they came from the streets with traumatic experiences," Burgos, who herself owns seven&nbsp;dogs&nbsp;at home, said in an interview.
"With these kinds of events they can be immersed with different people, and help them socialise and, hopefully, improve their social skills and get them adopted in the future," she said while petting a dog.
PAWS campaign officer Sharon Yap hoped the experience would make the guests fall in love with the&nbsp;animals looking for a place to call home.
"The awareness for pet adoption is not that high, and there are still a lot of people buying pets. And it's a sad fact that a lot of&nbsp;animals in the&nbsp;shelter&nbsp;can give all the love that they can give, but they aren't given any chance," Yap said.
Animal&nbsp;cruelty is a crime in the&nbsp;Philippines&nbsp;but many cases go unreported, PAWS said. (Philippine peso = $0.018)
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(Writing by Karen Lema; Editing by Alistair Bell)

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In the Philippines, animal lovers book Valentine's dates with shelter dogs