HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	103
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A STATE-PROVINCE AFFILIATION BETWEEN THE STATE OF HAWAII OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE PROVINCE OF NEGROS ORIENTAL OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES.

     WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii is actively seeking to expand its international ties and has an abiding interest in developing goodwill, friendship, and economic relations between the people of Hawaii and the people of Asian and Pacific countries; and

     WHEREAS, as part of its effort to achieve this goal, Hawaii has established a number of sister-state agreements with provinces in the Pacific region; and

     WHEREAS, because of the historical relationship between the United States of America and the Republic of the Philippines, there continue to exist valid reasons to promote international friendship and understanding for the mutual benefit of both countries to achieve lasting peace and prosperity as it serves the common interests of both countries; and

     WHEREAS, there are historical precedents exemplifying the common desire to maintain a close cultural, commercial, and financial bridge between ethnic Filipinos living in Hawaii with their relatives, friends, and business counterparts in the Philippines, such as the previously established sister-city relationship between the City and County of Honolulu and the City of Cebu in the Province of Cebu; and

     WHEREAS, similar state-province relationships exist between the State of Hawaii and the Provinces of Cebu, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, and Pangasinan, whereby cooperation and communication have served to establish exchanges in the areas of business, trade, agriculture and industry, tourism, sports, health care, social welfare, and other fields of human endeavor; and

     WHEREAS, a similar state-province relationship would reinforce and cement this common bridge for understanding and mutual assistance between ethnic Filipinos of both the State of Hawaii and the Province of Negros Oriental; and

     WHEREAS, with its vast fertile land resources, Negros Oriental's major industry is agriculture and lists its primary crops as sugarcane, corn, coconut, and rice, but the province is emerging as a technological center in the Central Philippines with its growing business process outsourcing and other technology-related industries, and is also becoming a notable tourist destination in the Visayas, making the province much like Hawaii; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the Senate concurring, that Governor Linda Lingle of the State of Hawaii, or her designee, be authorized and is requested to take all necessary actions to establish a state-province affiliation with the Province of Negros Oriental in the Republic of the Philippines; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Governor or her designee is requested to keep the Legislature of the State of Hawaii fully informed of the process in establishing the affiliation and involved in its formalization to the extent practicable; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Province of Negros Oriental be afforded the privileges and honors that Hawaii extends to its sister states and provinces; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if by June 30, 2013, the state-province affiliation with the Province of Negros Oriental has not reached a sustainable basis by providing mutual economic benefits through local community support, the state-province affiliation shall be withdrawn; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Hawaii's Congressional delegation, the Governor of the State of Hawaii, the President of the Republic of the Philippines through its Honolulu Consulate General, and the Governor and Provincial Board of the Province of Negros Oriental, Republic of the Philippines.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

State-Province Affiliation; Negros Oriental Province