By Dominic B. dela Cruz (Staff Reporter)
Laoag City—City Mayor Michael M. Keon thanked the Chinese government for donating 10 tons of rice, or 2,000 bags, on June 10 at the City Hall multi-purpose court.
The rice was turn over personally by Consulate of the People’s Republic of China in Laoag head of post and consul Zhou Youbin personally turned over the rice with Ilocos Norte Governor Mathew Joseph M. Manotoc also gracing the event.
Of the 2,000 bags of rice, he city government will donate 40 bags to the Mariano Marcos Memorial and Medical Center in Batac for the nurses and frontline workers while the rest will be distributed to jeepney and tricycle drivers in the city.
The Ilocos Timeslearned that the Chinese rice donation is the first relief operations of the Chinese government to the city during this pandemic.
The distribution coincided with the 45th anniversary of the China-Philippine diplomatic ties.
Mr. Keon hopes that both governments will continue to have a “good relationship” and he added that he is happy to host a Chinese Consulate here as it further strengthens the relationship between the city and the Chinese consulate.
The Laoag mayor also disclosed that several Chinese cities have expressed interest in entering a sister-city ties with the city government.
Mr. Zhou, for his part, said that the people of North Luzon have always been friendly to China.
When the coronavirus outbreak worsened in the Philippines, the Chinese government, enterprises and Chinese community donated anti-pandemic materials to support the fight in North Luzon wherein this fight had witnessed the strength and warmth of friendship, he added.
About 20,000 families in the provinces and cities of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Benguet, Baguio, Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino and Santiago are the beneficiaries of the China-aid friendship rice bags.
The diplomatic ties between the country and China began in 1975 when former President Ferdinand E. Marcos visited China.