Japanese city donates state-of-the-art ambulance to Marikina

MANILA – A Japanese city turned over a fully-equipped ambulance to the city government of Marikina.

“Marikina City received an ambulance with advanced life support (ALS) system with complete set of equipment for pre-hospital care,” Mayor Marcelino “Marcy” Teodoro said in a statement Wednesday.

Sakai Mayor Masahiro Hashimoto showed the donation to Teodoro during the latter’s visit to Japan last week.

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

According to Teodoro, the donation is a great addition to the life-saving vehicles of Marikina City.

He also expressed gratitude to the people of Sakai for their new donation, saying it will be utilized to serve more families in Marikina.

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

“In Marikina City, we ensure the immediate response to the needs of our community, especially during disasters and other emergencies. Donations such as these are always great addition to our emergency vehicles. More vehicles would mean more families served. To Sakai (City), we are very much grateful,’’ the mayor said.

To recall, the city also donated a fire truck to Marikina City during the visit of Hashimoto last February 19.

Marikina sends English teachers to Japan

Also under the MOA, Teodoro has sent around 20 English teachers to Sakai in preparation for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

According to the mayor, there is an agreement between Marikina City and Sakai City, Japan to hire Filipino teachers coming from Marikina City to teach English to Japanese school children and professionals in preparation for the upcoming Olympics 2020 that will be held in Nagasaki, Japan.

“To date, Marikina City already sent 17 teachers to Sakai City, Japan to teach English,” Teodoro said during a welcome ceremony at the Sakai City Hall in Japan on July 15.

For his part, Hashimoto lauded English teachers from Marikina City for being very fluent in English.

Also, he said that he will recommend Marikina teachers should other cities in Japan want to emulate their program.

“Marikina teachers are very good English teachers. If other cities in Japan wish to follow our program, we will certainly recommend Marikina City,” Hashimoto was quoted as saying.

“These teachers are the pride of our hometown… This partnership is more than just helping Japan for their Olympic 2020 preparations, more than just employment. This is testament that our teachers are exemplary,” Teodoro added.