11 February 2010

A cultural and trade mission led by luminaries from the City of San Francisco in California visited PLM to establish a working relationship with PLM and the Department of Tourism (DOT). Global Heritage Fund (GHF), a UNESCO-affiliated foundation that funds restoration and preservation of historical sites such as Intramuros, is part of the delegation from San Francisco that visited the city of Manila pursuant to the long-standing linkage between the two sister-cities. GHF seeks to collaborate with the DOT and PLM on the preservation of Intramuros which is the most culturally rich heritage of the Spanish history in the country. Grants were offered to PLM to move this program forward.

The 100-man delegation was headed by Hon. Willie L. Brown, Jr., former Mayor of the City of San Francisco. He is joined by other leading luminaries, including Hon. Marciano Paynor, Jr., Philippine Consul-General in the United States; San Francisco Civil Service Commissioner E. Dennis Normandy, Chairman of the San Francisco-Manila Sister City Committee for 19 years; John Hurd International, Conservation Director of Global Heritage Fund; Al Perez, president of the Filipino-American Arts Exposition; and Hon. Ruth Asmundson, mayor of the City of Davis, California.

As an offshoot of the long-standing linkage since April 1961, PLM, for its part, has already inked a sister-university pact with the City College of San Francisco in the past. In November 2006, a 138-strong delegation of the San Francisco-Manila Sister City Committee (SFMSCC), led by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, also visited PLM. A memorandum of understanding between PLM and the City College of San Francisco (CCSF) was signed by Board of Trustees president Natalie Berg, Board of Trustees member Rodil Rodis, and then-PLM president Dr. Benjamin Tayabas.

CCSF and PLM first collaborated in the 1994 SFMSCC Cultural and Trade Mission to Manila. The 2006 agreement committed both schools to undertake a student and teacher exchange program, joint curricula, and plans for a City College extension within PLM grounds.

Related articles:
Philippine News Online: San Francisco sister-city delegation hails Manila visit a 'success'
Photojournal: Manila-San Francisco Sister-city delegation