The City of Valenzuela and the Municipality of Narvacan forged a sisterhood agreement to expedite mutual attainment of socio-cultural, technological and economical development.

Mayor Sherwin T. Gatchalian of Valenzuela City and Mayor Zuriel S. Zaragosa of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur signed the memorandum of agreement during the celebration of Bagnet Festival last  month.

The core objective of establishing this agreement is to promote favorable partnership and cooperation between the two local government units and their constituents.” Its four-fold goal includes cultural heritage preservation, technical exchange facilitation, sustainable development, and general welfare for the unquantifiable concerns of the people.

The agreement was solidified in Valenzuela City through City Resolution 173, Series of 2011, authored by 1^st District Councilor Marlon Alejandrino.

Mayor WIN views the partnership as a powerful venue to “share best practices” and to activate intangible assets that were made sedentary over time. In his speech at the Bagnet Festival, he said that he admires the municipality’s enthusiasm in promoting its culture, such as its fiestas. This translates his hope to elevate the standards of tourism in the City of Valenzuela. The local folks were pleased when Mayor WIN announced in Filipino that, “the festival, scenic spots, and the competent mayor of Narvacan will be whole-heartedly promoted to the Valenzuelanos.”

Both of the Chief Executives were expressive of their congruent pursuits – to put premium not only on tourism, but also on education and waste management sectors.

In terms of education, Mayor WIN’s vision that “Good Education is Good Governance,” paved the way to citations and further innovation. Last year, Valenzuela reaped the top spot in the National Achievement Test for Elementary for School Year 2010-2011 in the National Capital Region (NCR). The “Library Hub Project,” which is relatively young among the metropolitan cities, was also inaugurated recently.

On waste management, Valenzuela is toiling to make its project “Segregation on Wheels” a success, wherein the garbage collectors do the garbage segregation as they collect them from households . Narvacan, on the other hand, is commendable for installing its municipal dumpsite.

While our sister municipality can boast of its Bagnet Festival and other tourism spots, our beloved city could be expected to concentrate on reviving its remaining historical edifices and priceless artifacts from the Spanish colonial times to the succeeding eras.

Furthermore, certain attractions such as Kap. Larry’s Pond in Barangay Coloong, is also starting to gain its fare share of popularity in the field of recreational sports tourism.

Through this sisterhood pact, the officials are optimistic that more opportunities for co-operational development are yet to come.

Narvacan is a first class municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur while Valenzuela City is a highly-urbanized city in the Metropolitan Manila which gained recognition for being the best-governed city in the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) list issued recently.