QC to pursue dev’t, livelihood projects

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. vowed yesterday to vigorously pursue development and livelihood projects to address the problem of poverty confronting more than one million residents in the city.

In his New Year address to city hall employees at yesterday’s flagraising ceremony, the mayor said new challenges await every civil servant in 2004.

"We cannot rest on our laurels, there are lot of challenges that awaits us this year," Belmonte said referring to the series of awards in fiscal management and good governance the city bagged last year.

Apart from the harvest of awards, the Quezon City government has also remained as the richest city in country with a savings of more than P3 billion.

Belmonte told city hall employees to focus on their mission to reach out and empower the people. This, he said, would make them self-sustaining and not dependent on dole-outs from the city government.

The mayor also lined up his priority programs for the year, including those in the area of job generation, housing for the poor, computerization and distribution of reconstructed titles to landowners.

The continued clearing of waterways will also be among the top projects of the city government for this year.

More scholarships for poor but deserving students are also targeted by the government for this year.

The Sikap Buhay program, a joint undertaking of the city government and the National Livelihood Support Fund (NLSF), will be expanded to enable entrepreneurs in poor communities to avail of collateral-free loans for various businesses.

Capability-building programs for city government personnel will also be implemented to make civil servants more effective in performing their jobs.

Belmonte also announced a renewed campaign against crime and illegal drugs.

He said the declaration of the city as most business friendly city has attracted more investments in the past year.

"Business is the engine of growth. It generates employment so we must stimulate business in the city," Belmonte said.

Meanwhile, the city council has clarified that Jorge Banal Jr. is an official candidate for councilor in Quezon City’s 3rd district and not the 2nd district as reported earlier. He is the eldest son of long-time Councilor Jorge Banal.

The younger Banal joined Belmonte in filing his certificate of candidacy last Saturday.