Naga, Cabadbaran to forge sisterhood ties

CEBU, Philippines - The City of Naga is set to sign a sisterhood agreement with Cabadbaran City, Agusan del Norte within this month.

Mayor Val Chiong said the city has been making preparations for this agreement which will be finalized before the Holy Week.

The mayor has already requested the city council to approve a resolution “expressing the city’s intent to forge a sisterhood” with Cabadbaran City.

The proposal has already been calendared for the next session of the council.

If the proposal gets the council’s approval, Cabadbaran would become the second sister city of Naga after Batac, Ilocos Norte. These three cities are among the 16 local government units affected by the Cityhood case filed by the League of the Cities of the Philippines (LCP) before the Supreme Court.

Chiong said that apart from sharing their ideas with one another on how to improve their respective cities, this sisterhood aims to strengthen the bond which holds them together, formed during their struggle to win back their cityhood in Nov. 2008.

“We are planning to become sister-cities with the rest of the 16 cities because from the start, we are one in this struggle, especially now that we are orphans because the LCP still does not recognize us,” Chiong said.

Chiong said the rest of the 14 cities also plan “to have a relationship with each other where we can do good things for one another with or without the LCP’s recognizing us.” - THE FREEMAN