The City Government of Valenzuela strengthens partnership with the Municipality of Cortes, Surigao del Sur as the two cities forge a sisterhood pact at Valenzuela City Hall, August 17.

Valenzuela City Mayor WES Gatchalian and Cortes Municipal Mayor Josie Bonifacio M.D., signed a sisterhood agreement to fortify the alliance between the two cities.

This sisterhood agreement is also embodied in a resolution approved by the City Council of Valenzuela. Resolution No. 1507, Series of 2019, Signifies the Interest of the City of Valenzuela to Establish Sisterhood/Twinning Relationship Agreement with the Municipality of Cortes, Province of Surigao del Sur.

The objective of this sisterhood agreement is to promote and enhance mutual understanding, and foster meaningful technical exchange and cooperation for sustainable development, trade and investment, tourism, information technology, human development, as well as culture and the arts.

Valenzuela City Mayor WES Gatchalian expressed his appreciation to the Municipality of Cortes officials ,”We are very much honored na maging sister city natin ang Municipality of Cortes, at Mayor (Bonifacio), makaaasa kayo na meron kayong big brother dito sa Valenzuela. We will keep a good relationship throughout the years.” (We are very much honored that the Municipality of Cortes will be a sister city, and Mayora (Bonifacio), you can count on having a big brother here in Valenzuela. We will keep a good relationship throughout the years.)

Meanwhile, Municipal Mayor Josie Bonifacio M.D. imparted her sincerest message to the City of Valenzuela officials, “My heartfelt gratitude to Mayor WES for his support. Looking forward to have all of you in our municipality in the near future.”

Mayor Bonifacio also disclosed that the proposed sisterhood signing was first scheduled on April 2020. Unfortunately, the pandemic intercepted.

Officials from Municipality of Cortes also visited the Valenzuela School of Mathematics and Science (ValMaSci), Valenzuela City Special Education Center (ValSPED), Allied Local Emergency and Evacuation Response Team (ALERT) Center, and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela to do a benchmarking.

Present in the sisterhood signing were Vice Mayor Lorie Natividad-Borja, First District Councilors Cris Feliciano-Tan, Atty. Bimbo dela Cruz, Ricarr Enriquez, Ghogo Deato Lee, and Ramon Encarnacion. Joining them were Second District Councilors Gerald Galang, Niña Lopez, Chiqui Carreon, Mickey Pineda, Louie Nolasco, and Sel Sabino-Sy.

Also in the event were Liga ng mga Barangay President Councilor Jonjon Bartolome, SK Federation President Goyong Serrano, and Pederasyon ng Barangay Kagawad ng Pilipinas (PBKP) President Coco Mayol who happens to be the cousin of Mayor Bonifacio.

The Municipality of Cortes, Province of Surigao del Sur is the 74^th Sister Municipality of Valenzuela.

###