Mandaue, Dumaguete mull sisterhood pact

THE chief executives of the cities of Dumaguete and Mandaue agreed to come up with a sister-city relationship for mutual benefits.

This developed as the 24-man team headed by Dumaguete City Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria visited Mandaue City last Friday as part of their “lakbay-aral.”

Aside from Mandaue City, they also visited the cities of Lapu-Lapu and Cebu.

“There are many things we can learn from Dumaguete and adopt these in our city,” said Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes during a meeting with the visitors at the city’s Hall of Fame.

Cortes immediately coordinated with the council to formalize the plan and pass an ordinance for the sisterhood agreement.

DILG City Director Jhoaden Lucero presented to the visitors the city’s best practices, which included the implementation of Anti-Red Tape Act and the survey of  Civil Service Commission  (CSC) that gives Mandaue a passing rate of 85 percent; the automation of Business Processing and Licensing Section (BPLS); the relocation of informal settlers living in the city’s danger zones; implementation of Performance Governance System (PGS) in partnership with Institute of Solidarity in Asia (ISA); school-building projects in partnership with Aboitiz Foundation; and digitization of maps, among others.

Dumaguete City Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria for his part said coming up with a sister-city relationship with Mandaue City is a welcome development.

“Aside from promoting camaraderie, it enables both cities to help each other,” he said.