If elected as mayor, Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte on Tuesday said she would put up a science and technology university for the city.
“One day, it is my dream to establish a Quezon City Science and Technology University in our city,” she said.
The university would be a city-run pioneering institution that intends not only to build-up expertise in science and technology but also to promote entrepreneurship and innovation.
Believing that the future is in technology, Belmonte said: “My dream is to hone and develop the interest and skills of our children in science, technology, engineering and math [STEM] so that they can be inventors, innovators, creators, techpreneurs, engineers or scientists in the future.”
Earlier, Belmonte said she hoped young people will dream of becoming “not just ordinary employees or businessmen, but innovators.”
Along with advocating STEM education in the city, the vice mayor is also active in institutionalizing support from the local government for the city’s small businesses.
Meanwhile, police have arrested a taxi driver who works for professional basketball star Douglas Kramer for robbing a house in Quezon City.
Chief Supt. Joselito Esquivel Jr., QC police chief, identified the suspect as Eddie Valiente, 48, and his cohort as Ronald Calderon, 47.
He said Kramer, husband of actress Cheska Garcia, gave the police information on Calderon’s whereabouts that led to his and Valiente’s arrest at 3-B Tatco, Bagong Ilog, Pasig City.
Police said that on July 29 at around 12:30 p.m., Valiente, and Calderon, armed with handguns, along with three other companions broke into the house of businesswoman Misella Maling, 44, at 54-B Calumpit St. corner Bansalangin Street in Barangay Veterans Village, Project 7.
They took away several valuables, including a cellphone and a 32-inch LED television. The five suspects then fled onboard a Toyota Vios Reymark taxi (WQL-3920).
The incident was caught on a closed-circuit television camera. Authorities were able to trace the taxi registered under Kramer’s name.