Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte underscored the importance of resilience in the effective delivery of services to QCitizens and putting the city on the road to recovery.
During her fourth State of the City Address (SOCA) delivered Monday afternoon, Belmonte said the city government became an exemplar of resiliency by not giving up amid insurmountable odds.
“When QCitizens were looking up to us, to provide a way forward, there was no time to waste. There was no time to hesitate. Our eyes and ears were focused on the needs of our people. Our resilience is the product of that singular focus,” Belmonte said.
“Hindi natin kayang mapaghandaan ang lahat ng hamon. Ang maaari lang nating ihanda, ay ang ating kahandaan. We can only prepare, to always be prepared. Some call it resilience, and some call it excellence,” she added.
Belmonte stressed that good governance played a key role in her administration’s push for resiliency, saying it has helped them maintain a robust mechanism to deliver all the programs and services uninterrupted, despite great upheavals and small disruptions.
“Hindi po natin hinanap ang resilience. Natagpuan po natin ito habang binabagtas natin ang landas ng good governance. Ang pagtutok sa mga pangangailangan ng mga tao, katapatan sa serbisyo, pagdedesisyon ayon sa dikta ng mga datos, at ang ingklusibong pamumuno, ang ating baon sa paglalakbay na ito,” she said.
As part of its aim to push for a people centric-governance, Belmonte strengthened the Quezon City People’s Council, where it accredited around 4,055 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) that will help the city government in planning and implementing various programs and services.
In addition, the city government has conducted 168 QC Services Caravans in various areas of the city and has implemented the People’s Corner via QC E-Services where QCitizens are given the chance to air their grievances.
“We have upgraded our mode of governance from being merely consultative, into a fully inclusive, integrated and participative process of decision-making,” Belmonte said.
The Mayor also emphasized that the city government has put a premium on building health resiliency and building resilient individuals and communities through different programs and projects.
As for health, Belmonte said the city government has increased financial remuneration for contractual medical health professionals, including doctors and community health workers, and raised the number of beneficiaries of its free maintenance medicine program to around 50,000 from 7,000, among others.
To help communities become resilient amid disasters and calamities, the QC-DRRMO and iRISEUP Program or Intelligent, Resilient & Integrated Systems for Urban Population was established to collect data from early warning devices, remote sensors, data loggers and field equipment to help better prepare for any emergency situation.
In her speech, Belmonte also enumerated other programs and accomplishments for different sectors, including education, micro, small and medium enterprises, persons with disabilities, urban poor and digital governance.
The Quezon City government recently earned a Hall of Fame award from the Department of Finance-Bureau of Local Government Finance (DOF-BLGF) after it emerged as the No. 1 in the Philippines in terms of local revenue generation for the fourth straight year since 2019.
Under Belmonte’s watch, the city also earned P22 billion in revenues for Fiscal Year 2021 from real property tax, business tax and other taxes, such as amusement, transfer, and contractors, among others.
As testament of its transparent spending and excellent governance, the Quezon City government obtained the Highest Audit Rating from the Commission on Audit (COA) for the second straight year and received the Seal of Good Local Governance from the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Belmonte then called on residents to support her vision of a peaceful, safe and prosperous city as this would also benefit them.
“Mahalaga ang bawat QCitizen, lalo na sa kanilang pakikiisa sa mga layunin at adhikain ng isang payapa, ligtas at maunlad na lungsod. Hindi tayo laging mabibigyan ng pangalawang pagkakataon. Kailangang lagi tayong handang humarap sa anumang hamon. Dito sa QC ngayon, at sa buong haba ng panahon,” she said.