Belmonte personally awarded plaques of appreciation to the top 10 business taxpayers in the city for last year and this year during the 62nd Foundation Week of Quezon City, which culminated last Oct. 12.
Among those given plaques were EAC Distributors, Inc.; Engineering Equipment, Inc.; Pacific Paint Oil Manufacturing, Inc.; Robinson’s Land Corp.; Republic Broadcasting System; City Bank; Mercury Drug Corp.; ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp.; Jollibee and SM Prime Holdings, Inc.
The top 10 real estate taxpayers include the Concrete Aggregates; Shoemart, Inc.; Nestle Philippines; San Miguel Property (Phils.); Progressive Development Corp.; Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas; Citibank; Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company; Robinson’s Land Corp.; and SM Mega Holdings.
Belmonte also presented a plaque of appreciation to former Sen. Leticia Ramos-Shahani for her late father, Ambassador and Foreign Affairs Secretary Narciso Ramos, who authored a resolution changing the name of the city from Balintawak to Quezon City.
In his speech, Belmonte stressed the need for the participation of the business sector and real estate owners in priming the city’s economic development and growth by paying their taxes promptly and religiously.
Belmonte said that the taxes the taxpayers are paying to the city would go a long way in accelerating the delivery of basic services to city residents, particularly the marginalized, whose lives he has envisioned to uplift through his "Serbisyong Bayan Para sa Mamamayan" program.
Earlier, City Treasurer, Victor Endriga, Jr., reported to Belmonte the collection of P139,838,154.27 in business taxes for year 2000, making it the city’s biggest source of income.
On the other hand, the city government also collected P134,887,555.64 in real estate taxes for the first three quarters of this year. – Jose Rodel Clapano