By MAE SINGUAY
BACOLOD City — This city yesterday celebrated its ties with Korea through the Bacolod–Korea Friendship Festival.
Held at the People’s House grounds, the festival highlighted Bacolod’s being one of the top destinations of Koreans in the country.
Mayor Monico Puentevella said the celebration was a success.
Koreans have the biggest number among foreigners in the Philippines, followed by the Japanese, Puentevella said.
More than a thousand Koreans were studying in various schools in Bacolod, he said.
Tom N Toms, a Korean coffee shop, will put up shop in this city in time for the MassKara Festival in October, the mayor revealed.
“(Koreans) are one of the reasons that our economy is booming. They come here to (invest and) study. In return, we make them feel at home,” he said.
Puentevella and Mayor Kang Seong-Ho of the Daegu Metropolitan City signed a sisterhood agreement on Oct. 17 last year.
An opening ceremony that followed a ribbon-cutting in the morning kicked off the one-day event. It was followed by a Korean cook fest offering the city residents traditional and authentic Korean cuisine.
Choong Suk-oh, Korean Embassy counselor for culture and public relations and the Korean Culture Center director, was the guest speaker.
The Korean Embassy official said he hoped the event will continue every year.
Mayor Alfred Romualdez of Tacloban City also witnessed the event.
There were 21,807 Koreans, 5,728 Americans and 2,626 Japanese who visited this city from January to July this year, records from the City Tourism Office showed./PN
