By Rex Catubig

 

“CHECK out this old picture, Kuya Rex, I think it’s you!”, the Mayor exclaimed on the cp. She was at the City Mayor’s Office on a Saturday, rummaging through the Iwata photo collection of Helen Co, as part of the initial preparations for the goodwill visit of the Iwata City Mayor and his delegation.

True enough, it was me. But my personal excitement was soon dampened upon realizing that the two other persons who posed with me and Ate Helen are gone.

It was bittersweet and on that note, my work for the present-day visit of the Iwata City officialdom began.

It’s a nostalgic undertaking for me. Fortysome years ago, around 1978, Mayor Cipriano Manaois invited me to assist in the City’s welcome for the visiting Iwata contingent. They had forged a sister city covenant in 1975 and the two cities had engaged in exchange visits since. For the return visit of the Iwata group, a big welcome was planned.

We toured several elementary schools and took them to Tondaligan Ferdinand to pay homage at the twin-monolith memorial of the Philippine-Japan Friendship. As a highlight of the visit, a formal dinner was held in their honor at the grand ballroom of the McAdore International Hotel, featuring a Filipiniana program that I directed.

This year, after over four decades, spanning the terms of four Mayors, I find myself in a déjà vu moment. As City Consultant, I was tasked to organize and coordinate the mid-August visit of the Iwata City delegation. The 70’s is being relived and recreated.

It would be a sentimental journey through time, a reconciliation visit to rekindle the dormant bond, after years of hiatus where no visits or exchanges took place.

“Nen saman, mamasiken iray Iwata leaders ya nabetan ko, natan ogogaw la ra”, mused UL Pres Chito Samson who was once a part of the Dagupan delegation that went to Iwata.

Yes, the Iwata City leadership has grown younger. The big challenge is to make the visit relatable and relevant, one that could enable them to identify with the legacy of their forebears.  Looking at the vintage pictures and perusing the memorabilia for the first time, acquainted them with the accord’s origins.

The presence of Blessie and Mamerto Manaois, proud progeny of the father of the sister-city hood, as well as that of Helen Co and Dr Zenaida Torio who were part of Dagupan First Lady Dr Fe Cruz Manaois’s original entourage, set the nostalgic mood and awed the visitors, as the past came to life before their eyes. The truth is, the visiting Iwata Mayor was born six years after the sister city pact was enacted.

To boost the experience, multiple activities were cramped in one day, happening within a 10-hour window.  It was backbreaking but the visitors took all in stride as they were regaled by the hearty welcome in all the places visited.

The marathon of events was indeed exhausting, challenging the stamina of the Japanese group. But trust the Mayor to save the day. In what was a master stroke in hindsight, yet deemed as pushing stamina to the limit, the Mayor took them aboard a motorboat to the fishponds of Lomboy to experience Gilon by way of a staged bangus harvest.

It was the day’s wonderment and display of the Mayor’s instinctive diplomatic acumen.

When the group sauntered into the River Grove Center picnic ground to cap the long day, they all looked prepped for any challenge. The smokey sight of bangus and talaba being grilled, and a cornucopia of seafood laid out on the tables, certainly perked up their weary selves.

In the end, drinking and breaking bread harked back to tradition in sealing the bond of friendship between the two cities.

And despite the language barrier, the toasting and clinking of bottles of San Mig beer amid loud shout of Kampai!, clinched the sister-city initiative that no pen signing could equal.

In friendship, no translation is needed…

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