Tel Aviv – Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia continues to bring Cebu to the world, this time to Israel.
Recently, Cebu forged ties with Rishon LeZion, the fourth largest city in Israel.

The agreement mainly aims to establish links for mutual promotion of trade and business relations between the two government units.

It also establishes partnerships in the fields of education, culture, sports, tourism, health and environment.

Rishon LeZion Mayor Dov Zur took pride in the water facility that his administration has put up, considering water is a perennial problem in the Middle Eastern country.

Garcia, for her part, presented what the Provincial Government has done for Cebu, its potentials for business and the fact that the Provincial Government is debt-free.

She said that it is her policy to run the government as an enterprise, using what she has learned as a businesswoman.

Provincial Board Members Wilfredo Caminero and Peter John Calderon and 30 members of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) witnessed the signing of the agreement at the Rishon LeZion City Hall.

The governor and CCCI members also met with an Israeli business group at the Carlton Hotel in Tel Aviv.

“While we want to know more about what Israel has in store for us, we would also like to create more awareness about Cebu among your countrymen through this visit,” said CCCI president Samuel Chioson.

Emily Chioson, Samuel’s wife and honorary consul to Israel, said the business matching will allow businessmen from both countries to discuss possible mutual business ties. She said Israel is doing well in the field of Information Technology and may invest in Cebu, being the IT hub of the Philippines.


OFWs IN ISRAEL

There are 39,000 Filipinos in Israel, most of them caregivers.

Filipinos are only allowed to work as caregivers, unless they are married to an Israeli.

Garcia met some of them during a dinner at the Philippine Embassy hosted by Philippine Ambassador to Israel Petronila Garcia.

“Like the Filipino caregivers, we have our hands stretched out in the hope of establishing mutual relations through trade, commerce and projects initiated by local government,” the governor said.

The ties between Cebu and Israel reinforced the friendship between the Philippines and Israel that has been there for more than 70 years.

Last June, the Open Doors monument was unveiled at the Holocaust Memorial Park in Rishon Lezion.

The monument signifies the Philippine-Israeli friendship.

During World War II, then Philippine Commonwealth president Manuel Quezon approved 10,000 visas for Jews to come to the Philippines to escape the Holocaust, which ended up killing six million Jews in Europe.

However, only 1,200 were able to make it to the Philippines. The government built a housing facility for the refugees in Marikina.

During the governor’s visit to Israel, she laid a wreath on the holocaust monument and also visited the Open Door monument.

In his speech, Enrison Benedicto, vice chairman of One Cebu, said they hope the trade mission will open the fourth door of the Filipino-Israeli friendship.

Benedicto was referring to the three doors represented in the Open Doors monument: 1) the door that the Philippines opened to escaping Jews, 2) the Philippines being the only Asian country in the United Nations that voted for the establishment of the State of Israel, 3) Israel’s accommodation of Filipino as caregivers.

Benedicto hopes the fourth door will be for the trade relations between the two countries.