Mayor Joy Belmonte renews vow of good governance

MANILA, Philippines — Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte yesterday reiterated her commitment to good governance as she outlined the local government’s accomplishments over the past year.

Belmonte paid tribute to local officials, employees and the city’s residents and partners in her fifth state of the city address.

“If I will sum up what our local government has achieved, I would say that we have come a long way, but there is still a lot to aspire for,” she said in Filipino. “We do not just see a good future, our people already feel it.”

In her speech, the mayor highlighted some of the major achievements of the city government and the different local offices.

The direct effect of good governance, she said, is reflected by the increase in collection in local revenue.

From P16 billion in 2018, Belmonte said the city this month expects to collect P21 billion from local revenue sources.

“Our collection increased by 30 percent without us imposing any new tax,” she pointed out.

The mayor said this year’s local government budget of P35.1 billion was the largest ever approved by the city government. Bulk of the funding was allocated for social services at P13.4 billion, followed education at P5.3 billion and infrastructure at P3.4 billion.

Despite the increasing budget, the city obtained for a third consecutive year a clean audit or unqualified opinion from the Commission on Audit.

This year, Belmonte said the local government focused on five major thrusts: social services for all, economic development, environmental sustainability, quality infrastructure projects and sustained good governance.

“I think it is clear to our people that we did not waste the trust that they gave us. We reciprocated it with exemplary service that it honest and reliable,” she said.

Among the significant accomplishments cited by the mayor included the expansion of automated services, such as online business registration, payment of real property and the birth registration system.

“Automation is our greatest tool for good governance. This will allow us to eradicate corruption and make any system equal for all. This also allows for the fast, accurate and timely entry of and access to data. If we