Bohol inks sisterhood pact

with City of San Juan, MM

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA)— Bohol may have found itself speeding in a development lane, but then local leaders see that it can step on the gas further with the help of others, and it needs a sisterhood agreement that can spare the province from the costs of experimenting.

Honoring the essence of the Sandugo, Bohol legislative body authorized Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado to sign a sisterhood pact, similar to the 1565 truce, establishing a symbiotic relationship with the City of San Juan, Metro Manila, a few minutes before Bohol witnessed the dancing showdown of culture and heritage during the 2026 Sandugo Festival of Festivals at the Carlos P. Garcia Sports Complex, July 26.

The promotion and sharing of innovations from either local government units as agreed are within the fields of tourism, trade commerce and Industry, Science and Technology, Culture and the Arts, Urban Planning and Development, Education, youth and sports development, environmental protection, public health and social services, according to the Memorandum of Agreement which both Gov Aumentado and San Juan City Mayor Francisco Javier Zamora.

The sisterhood agreement establishes a sisterhood relationship that ‘binds’ both parties to adopt and or conclude an arrangement of programs for sharing especially on the areas mentioned above.

To pick which programs, a joint technical working group to prepare and recommend a set of short or medium term program for cooperative implementation, as to the signed agreement.

Governor Aumentado said the sisterhood agreement also bolsters friendship between the two local government units and its people, cement a way for information and technology to pass through.

Bohol can possibly learn from the City of San Juan in putting up mechanisms for its effectively implemented programs.

San Juan City is a consistent recipient of the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) by the Department of Interior and Local Government, and is a top Performing Local Government Unit in Fiscal Management, an award given by the Bureau of Local Government and Finance.

An Urban Governance Exemplar Awardee in several categories: the City of San Juan is an ideally functioning Local Council for the Protection of Children (LCPC) for 2024 for its effective implementation of child protection policies, programs, and services and is a top performer in the functionality audit for Local Committee on Anti-Trafficking and Violence Against Women and their Children (LCAT-VAWC) with its outstanding performance in preventing human trafficking and addressing violence against women and children.

San Juan City, although just a little over five square kilometers is Manila Bay Clean-up, Rehabilitation and Preservation Program (MBCRP) compliant in the LGU Compliance Assessment while implementing environmental management measures supporting the Manila Bay rehabilitation program.

The city, smallest among Metro Manila Districts is an Anti-Drug Abuse Council (ADAC) certified Drug-Cleared City, the first city in the NCR certified as drug-cleared by the Regional Oversight Committee, reflecting sustained anti-illegal drug initiatives.

As to Peace and Order Council (POC) and Anti-Drug Abuse Council (ADAC), San Juan is identified as a significant and invaluable Partner for its valuable contributions to maintaining a safe, secure, and drug-free National Capital Region.

In governance, the city is also cited for its Local Legislative Award (LLA).

The City of San Juan has integrated demographic and socioeconomic data into local planning through its population and development planning, keeps a registry of Barangay Inhabitants and Migrants (RBIM), and uses these as basis for evidence-based programs in health, education, youth development, and family welfare.

For these, the city earned the Rafael M. Salas Kaunlarang Pantao Award for outstanding localization of the Population and Development Agenda Rafael M. Salas Kaunlarang Pantao Award.

In tourism, the City was also an ATOP Pearl Awardee as best Tourism-Oriented Local Government Unit in Metro Manila.

On the other hand, the City can also learn from Bohol in various ways.

In 1996, Bohol was among the few provinces in the country which established the first provincial environmental management office, institutionalizing an integrated environmental governance and natural resource management, thus earning for Bohol Environment Management Office, now the Bohol Provincial Environment Management Office the Gawad Galing Pook.

The move also established for Bohol the country’s first environment ordinance, mapping out local development but that which is biased on conservation of resources and sustainable development.

In 1999, the Bohol Integrated Area Development (BIAD) Program was nationally recognized when it introduced an integrated, area-based development strategy that clustered municipalities for coordinated planning, infrastructure, livelihood, and social services. It became a model for inter-LGU cooperation.

Bohol’s Poverty Reduction Management Office (BPRMO) established a province-wide, convergence-based poverty reduction mechanism that coordinated government agencies, LGUs, NGOs, and communities to target poor households, making it a successful strategy against insurgency.

In environmental management, the Bohol Marine Triangle (Danajon Double Barrier Reef Management); a collaborative coastal resource management initiative among LGUs and stakeholders to protect marine biodiversity while supporting sustainable fisheries and community livelihoods, became a national awardee.

In fact, Bohol may not be as financially wealthy as San Juan City, but the smallest metropolitan hub could learn a thing or two about how Bohol hitched a 7.1 percent Gross Domestic Product growth in 2023, how the province attracted P29.3 billion in investments and pegged a 313 percent increase in tourism arrivals since 2021 levels.

Bohol is an awardee of the Department of Energy’s Pioneer Energy Champion to advancing sustainable and affordable energy initiatives.

In recent years, Bohol has distinguished itself as a designated UNESCO World Heritage site, the first in the country and among Asia’s very few designated sites. (PIAbohol)

SISTERHOOD IN A BAG. When the first Sandugo sa Bohol was about exchange of blood, this year, Bohol Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado handed to City of San Juan Mayor Francisco Javier Zamora a Bohol tote bag that forms as the first of the exchanges that Bohol and City of San Juan would be engaging in the next days, as both agreed to a sisterhood pact that is expected to faciliutate the transfer of information, technology and processes for the betterment of both LGUS. (PIABohol)