The just concluded  2nd Manila Economic and Cultural Office Fil-Tai invitational golf tournament was a big success, Chairperson Cheloy E. Velicaria-Garafil said on Friday.

The games, co-sponsored by the Taiwan Golf Course Association, saw its final leg at the Canlubang Golf and Country Club in Laguna Thursday with the 20-man Taiwan delegation being joined by Filipino business executives and golf enthusiasts.

“The games are about forging closer friendly relations and enhancing greater partnerships. They are about strengthening ties between the Filipino people and the people of Taiwan,” Garafil said.

Garafil said that while the golf tournament was meant to help promote local tourism, its most important achievement is broadening avenues where the Philippines and Taiwan are able to enhance their people-to-people ties.

“We hope to fortify the bridge connecting the Philippines and Taiwan,” the MECO chief added.

Garafil added: “We have seen that in the games that we just concluded. We have seen how closer ties can be strengthened, and how friendlier our relations can become through initiatives such as this.”

The tournament saw Representative Wallace Minn-Gaw Chow of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines and Garafil, and the head of TGCA doing the ceremonial tee-off at the Malarayat Golf and Country Club in Lipa, Batangas on Wednesday.

“The games were a great victory in furtherance of stronger ties between the Philippines and Taiwan. For we have seen in the games how we do not necessarily compete, but how we effectively cooperate,” Garafil said. ###