Labella to rename street after Xiamen

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella is hoping a “long overdue” ordinance to rename a street near the North Reclamation Area as Xiamen Street will be passed in time for next month’s scheduled visit of officials from China’s Xiamen City.

The officials, set to arrive on October 28, will be in town to donate two fire trucks to the Cebu City government.

Xiamen, a port city on China’s southeast coast, formed a sisterhood with the Queen City of the South in 1984 to promote cultural and commercial ties.

Labella said that while Xiamen already named one of its streets after Cebu “10-15 years ago,” Cebu City has yet to return the gesture.

“By way of reciprocity, we will be putting up a Xiamen Street in Cebu. I already instructed Councilor (Raymond Alvin) Garcia to pass an ordinance,” he said.

Labella, fresh from a five-day trip to Xiamen, noted how the sisterhood seemed to wane in the previous years.

The mayor and his delegation were in Xiamen from Sept. 7-11 to attend the Silk Road Maritime International Cooperation Forum, where he delivered a speech that tackled Cebu City’s development projects and showcased its tourist and heritage sites.

“We are a service-oriented city to our tourists because Cebu City is like the springboard of the many other cities’ tourist spots in the country,” said Labella, adding that some investors expressed interest to visit Cebu City.

The Cebu Chamber of Commerce Inc. also put up a booth and an exhibit to showcase the city’s products.

Aside from the forum, the Cebu City delegation visited the Haicang Waste-to-Energy Plant to witness the technology, the first affiliated hospital of Xiamen University to observe its best management practices, and the Bureau of Construction where they learned about affordable housing projects.

The Cebu City government is planning to send another delegation to Xiamen to further study its hospital operations. — VAB (FREEMAN)