Sister-city ties to be signed

Sister-city ties to be signed

Friday, 13 November 2009 04:24
Varitey[sic] News Staff

(Legislature) -- Guam and the City of Olongapo will enter into a historic sister-city relationship today at 10 a.m. in the legislature’s public hearing room.

Speaker Judith Won Pat, and Mayor James “Bong” Gordon of the City of Olongapo will sign a memorandum of understanding making the relationship official.

The sister-city relationship was made possible through Sen. Eddie Baza Calvo’s Resolution 60, which received a bipartisan support.

Stronger ties with Olongapo City seek to open the door to increased tourism, cultural exchanges, work-force development and business investments.

As the island gears up for the impending relocation of 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam, local leaders focus on what the territorial government can learn from Olongapo City, once host to the largest US military installation and is now a booming site for the Subic Bay Free Port Zone.

Guam considers the Philippines as the primary source of manpower to fill the labor gap when the military buildup starts kicking in.