By Dominic B. dela Cruz (Staff Reporter)
Laoag City—City Mayor
Michael M. Keon thanked the Chinese government for donating 10 tons of rice, or
2,000 bags, on June 10 at the City Hall multi-purpose court.
The rice was turn over personally by Consulate of the People’s Republic of China in Laoag head of post and consul Zhou Youbin personally turned over the rice with Ilocos Norte Governor Mathew Joseph M. Manotoc also gracing the event.
Of the 2,000 bags of rice, he city government will donate 40 bags
to the Mariano Marcos Memorial and Medical Center in Batac for the nurses and
frontline workers while the rest will be distributed to jeepney and tricycle
drivers in the city.
The Ilocos Times
learned that the Chinese rice donation is the first relief operations of the
Chinese government to the city during this pandemic.
The distribution coincided with the 45th anniversary
of the China-Philippine diplomatic ties.
Mr. Keon hopes that both governments will continue to have a “good
relationship” and he added that he is happy to host a Chinese Consulate here as
it further strengthens the relationship between the city and the Chinese
consulate.
The Laoag mayor also disclosed that several Chinese cities have
expressed interest in entering a sister-city ties with the city government.
Mr. Zhou, for his part, said that the people of North Luzon have
always been friendly to China.
When the coronavirus outbreak worsened in the Philippines, the
Chinese government, enterprises and Chinese community donated anti-pandemic
materials to support the fight in North Luzon wherein this fight had witnessed
the strength and warmth of friendship, he added.
About 20,000 families in the provinces and cities of Ilocos Norte,
Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Benguet, Baguio, Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino
and Santiago are the beneficiaries of the China-aid friendship rice bags.
The diplomatic ties between the country and China began in 1975
when former President Ferdinand E. Marcos visited China.
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