Dagupan, Milpitas renew sisterhood ties
The sisterhood pact between Dagupan and Milpitas cities was renewed for another five years.
The new agreement was signed by Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez and Milpitas City Mayor Robert Livengood in Milpitas on Tuesday night (Wednesday morning in the Philippines).
The signing coincided with the regular session of the Milpitas City council at Milpitas city hall where Fernandez, Councilor Farah Decano and City Administrator Alvin Fernandez were invited as special guests.
In a call to The PUNCH after the signing, Fernandez said they were warmly received by Livengood, City Manager Thomas Williams and other Milpitas City officials.
The Dagupan delegation was accompanied to the office of Livengood, who succeeded former mayor Jose Esteves, a Dagupeno, by members of the United Pangasinanes Association, Inc. and the Dagupan City Association of Northern California.
Before the signing, Fernandez addressed the Milpitas City council where she extended the greetings of Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. and the people of Dagupan to the city officials and the Milpitas residents.
The sisterhood relationship between Dagupan and Milpitas started in 2003.
It was City Administrator Alvin Fernandez, then the vice mayor, who signed the first sisterhood pact with Esteves, which was only for two years, renewable after every two years.
Livengood’s administration agreed to a five-year sisterhood pact.
In addressing the Milpitas City Council, Fernandez and her group presented video footages about Dagupan City showing its vast potentials as the melting pot and center of education in the province and in the Ilocos Region.
She said Livengood was particularly touched when she mentioned that Dagupan was where General Douglas Mac-Arthur and the American Sixth Army under General Krugwer landed when they began the liberation of Luzon from the Japanese.
After showing video footages of the monument of General Douglas Mac Arthur in Bonuan and the Home Economics building of the West Central Elementary School in downtown Dagupan that served as MacArthur’s first command post in Luzon, Fernandez said Livengood expressed even deeper interest on Dagupan City.
Fernandez invited Livengood and other Milpitas city officials to visit to Dagupan in December this year for the city fiesta or in April for the 2010 Bangus Festival.
The three Dagupan city officials, who are expected to be back on Sept. 24, were also briefed by the Milpitas Police on what the city is doing to prevent cyber crimes, a new crime front in Dagupan City.—LM
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