The city of San Juan has found another sister city in Gumaca, Quezon after the two localities pledged to share with one another their respective knowledges and best practices for the benefit of their constituents.
San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora and Gumaca, Quezon Mayor Webster Letargo signed the sisterhood agreement at the San Juan City Hall Atrium and was witnessed by other government officials from the two local government units (LGUs).
Both the city and provincial government agreed to share knowledge and best practices in local governance specifically in the fields of tourism, culture and arts, science and technology, trade, commerce and industry, urban planning and development, sports development, education, environment protection, public health, and social services.
Zamora presented the best practices of the city in different fields of public health, Covid-19 response, education, safety and security, tourism, infrastructure and urban planning, environment, and social services as he expressed hope that Letargo's administration may also implement the said practices in his town.
Letargo, for his part, shared his municipality’s best practices, particularly in pandemic response, heritage preservation, and education.
“Gumaca is the first municipality that will be your sister city, thank you very much. Napakalaking karangalan nito sa amin. We have much to learn from your city, maraming salamat sa hospitality po ninyo. We have so much in common, especially in our history, with Gumaca established in 1582, only about 8 years older than San Juan (Gumaca is the first municipality that will be your sister city, thank you very much. This is such as big honor for us. We have much to learn from your city and we are very thankful for your hospitality. We have so much in common, especially in our history, with Gumaca established in 1582, only about 8 years older than San Juan)," Letargo said.
Letargo and the rest of the Gumaca offciials were on a “Lakbay-Aral” where they visited the San Juan City Government and its barangays to learn about systems and processes that they can also apply to their municipality.
They were also given a tour by Zamora in some of San Juan's historical sites like the Museo El Deposito, El Deposito Reservoir, Museo ng Katipunan, the newly constructed National Government Center, and the 22-storey in-city housing.
Zamora recently met with Ilocos Norte Governor Matthew Marcos Manotoc and the two LGUs agreed to forge their sisterhood agreement by next year.
Zamora and other officials from the city government also went to Camarines Sur where they signed a sisterhood agreement, marking a milestone for Zamora as it is his very first sisterhood agreement with another LGU under his administration.