Sakai City Mayor Masahiro Hashimoto proudly displayed his Marikina-made shoes during his visit to the Philippines’ shoe capital on Monday.

The Japanese official made this gesture during his visit for the donation of two fully-equipped emergency vehicles to the city government.

Hashimoto thanked Marikina Mayor Marcelino “Marcy” Teodoro for fostering a good relationship between the cities of Sakai and Marikina.

“He even took off his shoe and proudly showed that he was wearing shoes made in Marikina,” Teodoro said in a statement Tuesday.

Sakai City officials headed by Hashimoto and congressman Noboru Hamura personally turned over a mini-pumper fire truck and advanced life support (ALS) ambulance to the city.

The ambulance is equipped with portable and fixed oxygen supply equipment, suction apparatus with a regulator, a built-in pulse oximeter, an automated external defibrillator, a blood pressure meter, a nebulizer, and immobilization equipment, among others.

Teodoro and the city council of Marikina accepted the donations from Sakai, its sister city.

“On behalf of the City Government and citizens of Marikina, I graciously accept and express our profound gratitude for this ambulance. But more than this, we are grateful for the invaluable learnings, experiences, and opportunities we have both gained from our mutual collaboration and friendship,” he added.

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the sisterhood agreement between Sakai City and Marikina.

“We have fulfilled our objective of broadening and deepening our mutual understanding of our culture, people, and practices of good governance. We have actualized programs in education and disaster risk reduction and management through benchmarking activities and exchanging of ideas,” Teodoro said.

Marikina has been the sister city of Sakai under a memorandum of agreement signed in 2017. (PNA)