The City of Manila has increased the budget of a barangay in the Ermita-Malate area in District 5 to more than P15 million, he sees it applying more programs and projects to bring in more visitors to the city’s tourism and entertainment district.
In a simple ceremony held Friday at City Hall’s Bulwagang Villegas, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada signed the Supplemental Budget of Barangay 699 amounting to P4,304,806, effectively increasing its annual budget for 2016 to P15,393,272.
Estrada said he did this so the barangay “will be able to implement many important programs and projects.”
“I am confident that this increase will enable them to entice more tourists, both foreign and local, to visit the various establishments here, or even stay in hotels here for short in-city vacations,” the mayor added.
“This is a great help for us. This increase in the budget means that we can do a lot here, especially as we join our mayor in his efforts to bring back the glory of Manila,” said Cynthia Llorente, the barangay’s chairman.
Llorente is also the director of the Ermita-Malate Business Owners Association, “and we can see our priorities especially as this place is a frequent tourist destination,” she added.
Llorente’s barangay is one of 13 within the Ermita-Malate district, home to several hotels, condominiums, banks, travel and tour agencies, restaurants, beauty shops, health and wellness centers, and other leisure establishments.
“Because of the programs of the mayor and our barangays, as well as the Emboa, crime rate in our area became lower,” she said. “As the mayor increased our budget, we are able to do a lot more because we want zero crime in our area. We will try our best to achieve this.”
Llorente said they want to add more closed-circuit cameras, multipurpose vehicles for patrolling the barangay alongside the police, and motorcycles “to be used for peace and order and security.”
“We are fully supportive of the programs of Mayor Estrada, such as the cleanliness and beautification programs. This clean up drive within this area is important to help increase the number of tourists,” she said.