By Sonya Delgado
Yamaha Music Philippines Inc. (YMPH) is set to provide three Davao City schools with music instruments after the city signed a sister city agreement with Hamamatsu City in Japan.
The sisterhood agreement, which was signed by Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte and Hamamatsu City Mayor Yusuke Nakano resulted in an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Education (DepEd) to provide Kapitan Tomas Monteverde Sr. Central Elementary School, Matina Central Elementary School, and Mintal Elementary School with musical instruments.
Hamamatsu is home to Yamaha Corporation, the parent company of Yamaha Music Philippines Inc., and other multinational companies like Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, Kawai Musical Instruments, Roland Corporation, and Hamamatsu Photonics.
YMPH also started its “School Project” that aims to promote music and the use of musical instruments as part of public school education.
They hope to provide more children with the opportunities to experience the joy of playing musical instruments and enjoying music.
Hamamatsu also expressed its intent to enter into other sisterhood projects in the city such as Japanese language scholarships and donation programs.
Aside from this, the partnership also seeks to promote cooperation in academia, education, and industry investment.
“We are truly honored to have been offered the opportunity to forge a collaborative relationship and establish a mutually beneficial cooperation with Hamamatsu,” Mayor Duterte said.
For his part, Mayor Nakano said the sisterhood agreement will help strengthen the relationship of the cities “by sharing our knowledge and experience.”
He also hoped that the MoU would spark the revitalization of business activities in both cities so that Hamamatsu and Davao “will continue to grow together.”