Belmonte vows to push QC to forefront of progress

After laying the groundwork for Quezon City’s transformation into a quality community, Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. vowed yesterday to use the local government financial strength and improve governance capabilities to push the city into the forefront of growth and progress.

In his fourth state of the city address held during the 16th inaugural session of Sangguniang Panlunsod, Belmonte said that in the next three years, the city government will take advantage of its financial strength and improved governance capabilities in the effort to attract more investors and entrepreneurs to the city.

"We must compete more aggressively to prove to investors and entrepreneurs that Quezon City is the best location they can choose for business. We must convince our residents that they are living in the best city they can find," the mayor said.

He said the reward of growth will mean not only an improved capacity for service, but also more opportunities for the people to uplift their quality of life.

Belmonte, who received an overwhelming mandate of over 430,000 votes in the last election, said his administration in the last three years has repaired, overhauled and strengthened the engine of economic growth and social progress.

"In the next three years, we will make that engine run at peak capacity and we will improve it even more so we can do more for our people," he said.

To achieve his objective in the next three years, the mayor has laid down what he called six guideposts as indicators for the city’s competitiveness, namely: quality of governance; dynamism of local autonomy in creating and sustaining business; linkages and accessibility that facilitate movement of people and commerce; human resources development that create more knowledge and productive constituency; and quality of life as indicated by people’s social and physical development, a clean and safe environment and more pleasant surroundings.

Belmonte, who was applauded several times during his speech, also bared the strategic framework to maximize the city’s competitive strength, including an expanded and upgraded health care system, radical transformation of the city’s landscape to introduce and spread more gardens and parks as well as produce more ecotourism focal points through the city, and better incentive packages to enterprise and investors to develop central business districts in the city.

"Let us now mobilize and move full speed with our team of innovators, achievers and doers. Surely in the next three years, Team Quezon City will be the team to beat," Belmonte said.