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| Laoag mayor Chevylle V. Fariñas and San Juan mayor Guia Gomez sign the sisterhood relationship agreement at the Laoag City Hall Auditorium on August 10, 2016. Witnesses for the signing included city government officials and barangay officials of both Laoag and San Juan. (Doms dela Cruz) |
By Dominic B. dela
Cruz
Staff reporter
Laoag
City—Two well-known cities in the country
formalize their bonds through a sisterhood relationship agreement (SRA), which
was signed at the Laoag City Hall Auditorium on August 10, 2016.
With both their lady
mayors representing the city governments, Laoag mayor Chevylle V. Fariñas and
San Juan mayor Guia G. Gomez signed the agreement with their respective
department heads and punong barangays as witnesses.
Ms. Fariñas thanked
Ms. Gomez for returning to this city and for bringing her whole delegation to
visit Laoag. She also thanked the San Juan officials for choosing Laoag as
their first sister city.
She disclosed that
San Juan will always be close to her heart as her two eldest children were both
born in San Juan.
In her formal
speech, Ms. Fariñas reiterated that “friendship is a universal phenomenon that
transcends race, religious learnings, differences and the catalyst that
transforms towards one direction to achieve a common goal.”
The two-term Laoag
mayor added that “the sister city relationships between the two cities is very
vital and important as they both inspire and stimulate each other’s best
practices and new innovations in becoming more progressive and more developed cities.”
She added that she
believes in the saying, “two heads will always be better than one,” and as such
she also believes that Laoag and San Juan will be great partners.
San Juan mayor reciprocates
Ms. Gomez also thanked the Laoag officials and its people
for the “very warm welcome” they gave to them.
She said she
observed during the tour around the city, the beauty and cleanliness of Laoag
as well as its “very rich culture.”
Ms. Gomes also
commended the city’s clean-and-green program for its rural and urban barangays.
Fiestas
Ms. Gomez also noted that similar to the Pamulinawen
Festival, San Juan also celebrates its fiesta every June. Dubbed “Wattah
Festival”, it commemorates their patron saint San Juan Bautista.
She related that the
fiesta was launched during the term of her son, former San Juan mayor, now
Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito.
She stressed that
both cities should work together to make Wattah and Pamulinawen Festivals the
best in the country.
Rain and flood
During a rainy visit
to the city’s poblacion, Ms. Gomez said she was surprised because the flood on
the streets were so clear compared to Metro Manila’s floodwater.
“Bakit sa atin sa Manila kapag lumusong ka sa baha natatakot ka, baka ma-leptospirosis
ka; e bakit dito sa Laoag enjoy na
enjoy kami habang nababasa ang aming mga
paa,” Ms. Gomez quipped. “Kaya
kailangan malinis din ang San Juan kaparis
din ang Laoag.”
Ms. Gomez also
expressed awe for she has not seen any single youth along the streets during
their visit. She said this only means all the youth are in school. She added
that she wants to emulate Ms. Fariñas’ secret for San Juan.
Night market
The San Juan mayor also praised the city’s successful night
market. When she learned that this is being operated by the city government,
she said she also wants her city government to operate a similar one.
She disclosed that
although they also have night markets, these are operated by big time mall
owners.
“And I want a
similar night market in San Juan to be operated by the LGU”, she stressed.
San Juan’s size and history
San Juan is only 5
percent of Laoag City in terms of land area; it covers 600 hectares compared to
Laoag’s 12,747-hectare area.
San Juan is the
smallest city in the Philippines located east of Manila. It is historically
known as the site of the first battle of the Katipunan. It is a part of Metro
Manila, the National Capital Region of the Philippines.
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