Cebu province eyes sisterhood ties with Davao City

Cebu Provincial Governor Gwendolyn Garcia (right) and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio (left) are in talks for a sisterhood agreement between Cebu Province and Davao City.  | CDND PHOTO / Gerard Vincent Francisco

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu Provincial Government is seeking to forge sisterhood ties with Davao City.

This was announced by Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia to Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio during the 450th Founding Anniversary celebration of Cebu Province on Tuesday, August 6.

Garcia handed to Duterte-Carpio Cebu province’s letter of intent to enter into a sisterhood agreement with the city.

Duterte-Carpio was the guest of honor during the opening ceremony of the monthlong founding anniversary celebration.

“In behalf of the Province of Cebu, may I have the pleasure of signifying our province’s sincere intention to enter into a sisterhood agreement with the City of Davao?” Garcia wrote in the letter of intent.

Garcia said the sisterhood ties would enable the two local government units to share knowledge and strategies that could improve the socio-economic conditions of their constituents.

“Despite differences in population and land area, both local government units can learn a great deal from each other by sharing strategies, experiences, and policies in areas of urban planning development, socio-cultural programs, education, health, disaster risk management, community organizations, tourism and local governance,” said Garcia.

In a separate interview, Duterte-Carpio said they will respond with “a positive answer” to the province’s letter of intent.

“Usually, sa mga sisterhood agreements sa mga LGUs, ang mga best practices naay sharing of knowledge. Dili na kinahanglan mag-innovate, mangopya na lang mo sa inyong mga sister cities kung unsa to ang mga nindot nila nga projects, mga maayo nga program nga pwede ma-duplicate,” said Duterte-Carpio.

(The advantage in sisterhood agreements, among local government units, is the sharing of knowledge and best practices. You do not need to innovate, you can just replicate the good projects and programs of your sister cities.)

Duterte-Carpio said that with the sisterhood ties, they hope to develop Davao City to become a top city in the country.

“We have never been recognized as a number 1 city. Basin pa diay, despite that naa mi sa Mindanao ug dehado ang among location, with the best practices of Cebu province nga pwede namo mahimo pod sa among lugar, we might become a number one city in the country, too,” said Duterte-Carpio.

The Davao City Mayor also said they can share to Cebu province their practices on peace and order and agriculture programs. / celr