The recent trip of the Dumaguete City delegation to Alameda in California was, by all means, a success.
True to his job as the City’s chief salesman, Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria led the Dumaguete delegation to establish goodwill and friendship, and to promote Dumaguete to the people and the City of Alameda on the western coast of the United States of America.
The Mayor and his party also spent every day meeting with Dumaguetenos who now live in that part of the world, in an effort to touch base with them, and update them of what Dumaguete is today.
But as the saying goes, you can’t please everybody. There are people who tried to paint a bad image of the goodwill visit, saying it was illegal because the Mayor was not authorized by the City Council to establish sister city relations with Alameda.
Aware that his critics were watching his every move, Mayor Sagarbarria made sure he followed the law to the letter.
And sure enough, after the critics had their heyday crying about what they thought was illegal, a closer inspection of the document signed by the two Mayors revealed that it was not even a sister city agreement but a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a formal sister city relationship at a later date.
Of course, despite a formal relationship, the two cities have started to discuss mutually- beneficial programs such as tourism promotions, cultural visits, and business exchanges.
As the political dust starts to settle, one is bound to ask: What was that fuss all about?
