Belmonte takes oath as QC mayor, enumerates priority projects
Published Jun 30, 2019 06:03 pm
By Chito Chavez
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte and the other newly elected city officials on Sunday took their oath of office before Supreme Court Associate Justice Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe in simple rites at the ABS-CBN Tent, Vertis North in this city.
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte gives her inaugural speech after her inauguration at ABS CBN Tent, Vertis North, June 30, 2019 (Rio Leonelle Deluvio / MANILA BULLETIN)
In her inaugural speech, Belmonte detailed the list of priority projects her administration intends to focus on, saying these are going to be needed to improve the living conditions of local residents.
Before thousands of her supporters, Belmonte vowed to implement some ordinance-based and doable programs in her first 100 days in office.
These programs include the improvement of housing social service, education and health projects.
Speaking more vividly of her priorities, Belmonte vowed to act on the needs of the ‘documented 188,549 informal settler families (ISF) living in danger zones, open spaces and private properties in the city’’.
At present, Belmonte said the 36 Bistekvilles, the socialized housing project of her predecessor former Mayor Herbert Bautista, have served only 3,415 families, a number which was not even one percent of the ISF population.
“While we cannot build housing overnight or even in 100 days, we will start by re-structuring the Housing, Commercial Development and Resettlement Department to provide free technical services and hasten the processes involved in land tenureship and housing,’’ Belmonte said.
She also vowed to craft a new shelter plan that will include guidelines in the selection of beneficiaries in various housing program models in the “PPP (Private-Public Partnership)’’.
In the area of social service, Belmonte said her administration will raise burial assistance for the indigents from P10,000 to P25,000; increase medical aid from P3,000 to P5,000with attendant guidelines in the classification of clients; comply and fund the provisions for Social Protection contained in “our ordinances in support of of our most vulnerable sectors and expand the number of beneficiaries of our educational assistance program’’; establish a Solo Parent Welfare Office to cater to the growing number of solo parents and establish a system in which financial assistance to fire victims can be distributed from three to five days after validation by social workers instead of the usual two to six months.
With regards education, Belmonte intends to mobilize recently discovered funds to begin construction of the Bagbag National Integrated High School in Novaliches; provide free eye, medical and dental check-ups for the public school students through the PPP with hospital per district and establish a free TESDA assessment center for senior high school tech-voc graduates and other skills training programs of the city that will improve job opportunities.
To improve the quality of health services, Belmonte said the city government will now work to double the number of doctors in the health centers to ensure that there is one doctor per health center instead of the current one doctor for every two or more health centers.
“We will also ensure that our LGU-run hospitals and health centers are well-stocked with medicines that are appropriate vis-a-vis the health profiles of the populations they serve,’’ she added.
Belmonte also proposed four initiatives that would further improve the delivery of public service to the people.
In establishing baseline data, Belmonte sees the need to know “our city and our people backwards and forwards, inside and out”.
She noted this is an absolute necessity to identify priorities by order of importance, to craft tailor-fitted programs and projects that best address needs and to maximize the use of resources and avoid leakage or wastage of public funds.
With the creation of a baseline data, Belmonte noted city hall will now be able to identify their skill sets in case “they still want to do some part time work’’.
Equipped with these information, Belmonte noted these would help local officials to “think up better programs for them in the short to medium term’’.
Explaining further, Belmonte plans all QC residents to have an automated QCitizen card that will help city hall “spread out service delivery and ensure they get the services they need’’.
At the start of her official duty today, Belmonte assured there will be a strict housekeeping and internal governance policy under her administration’s close watch.
Consistent with her platform to promote and establish good governance in the city, Belmonte will issue executive order number which creates an Internal Audit Unit team under the Office of the Mayor.
Stressing her hard stance, impatience and intolerance against corruption, Belmonte said her first executive order will ensure “that all processes and documents are in order’’.
To rid city hall of scalawags and non-performing personnel, Belmonte stressed that the first executive order she will issue will be on a cleansing program to ensure that good and honest behavior would be “incentivized” while enumerating acts that would be considered as betrayal of public trust that will be penalized under the full force of the law.
This could include suspension or, in the worst scenario, expulsion from the service, regardless if they are department heads or lower ranked employees.
Belmonte noted that ideally, all planning must be made within the first 100 days using the baseline data “we have collected to establish our targets, objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPI).
Belmonte explained that “if our data shows that 10 percent of our Grade 4 students suffer from malnutrition, our target can be to lower the incidence of malnutrition by 5 percent within one year using the interventions selected for this purpose’’.
She maintained the importance of sticking to the plans made by the City Development Council as encapsulated in the City Development Plan and Annual Investment Plan.
Belmonte asserted this avoids “whimsical projects’’ and ensures that all projects and programs are need-based.
“I also intend to plan sectoral programs to include in the City Development Plan. This June we are already hosting an LGBT Summit, and very soon, a Solo Parents Summit,’’ she added.
On the reported P26.5 billion cash on-hand and in-bank left by Bautista as of May 31, 2019 at the city hall’s coffers, Belmonte clarified that P4.6 billion of these were “funds in trust’’ that were set aside for specific uses.
In expounding further, Belmonte said that around P2-billion were tied to long term investments, leaving the city with only P19.9 billion in general fund.
“The public has been informed that the city currently has around P26.5 billion cash on hand and in bank as of May 31, 2019. This figure may sound impressive but it behoves us to clarify where these funds are and how they can be used,’’ Belmonte cleared.
Those who also took their oath of office were Vice-Mayor Gian Sotto, Congressmen Onyx Crisologo, Precious Hipolito-Castelo, Allan Benedict Reyes, Jesus Manuel Suntay, Alfred Vargas and Kit Belmonte and members of the sixth districts of the city council.
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte gives her inaugural speech after her inauguration at ABS CBN Tent, Vertis North, June 30, 2019 (Rio Leonelle Deluvio / MANILA BULLETIN)
In her inaugural speech, Belmonte detailed the list of priority projects her administration intends to focus on, saying these are going to be needed to improve the living conditions of local residents.
Before thousands of her supporters, Belmonte vowed to implement some ordinance-based and doable programs in her first 100 days in office.
These programs include the improvement of housing social service, education and health projects.
Speaking more vividly of her priorities, Belmonte vowed to act on the needs of the ‘documented 188,549 informal settler families (ISF) living in danger zones, open spaces and private properties in the city’’.
At present, Belmonte said the 36 Bistekvilles, the socialized housing project of her predecessor former Mayor Herbert Bautista, have served only 3,415 families, a number which was not even one percent of the ISF population.
“While we cannot build housing overnight or even in 100 days, we will start by re-structuring the Housing, Commercial Development and Resettlement Department to provide free technical services and hasten the processes involved in land tenureship and housing,’’ Belmonte said.
She also vowed to craft a new shelter plan that will include guidelines in the selection of beneficiaries in various housing program models in the “PPP (Private-Public Partnership)’’.
In the area of social service, Belmonte said her administration will raise burial assistance for the indigents from P10,000 to P25,000; increase medical aid from P3,000 to P5,000with attendant guidelines in the classification of clients; comply and fund the provisions for Social Protection contained in “our ordinances in support of of our most vulnerable sectors and expand the number of beneficiaries of our educational assistance program’’; establish a Solo Parent Welfare Office to cater to the growing number of solo parents and establish a system in which financial assistance to fire victims can be distributed from three to five days after validation by social workers instead of the usual two to six months.
With regards education, Belmonte intends to mobilize recently discovered funds to begin construction of the Bagbag National Integrated High School in Novaliches; provide free eye, medical and dental check-ups for the public school students through the PPP with hospital per district and establish a free TESDA assessment center for senior high school tech-voc graduates and other skills training programs of the city that will improve job opportunities.
To improve the quality of health services, Belmonte said the city government will now work to double the number of doctors in the health centers to ensure that there is one doctor per health center instead of the current one doctor for every two or more health centers.
“We will also ensure that our LGU-run hospitals and health centers are well-stocked with medicines that are appropriate vis-a-vis the health profiles of the populations they serve,’’ she added.
Belmonte also proposed four initiatives that would further improve the delivery of public service to the people.
In establishing baseline data, Belmonte sees the need to know “our city and our people backwards and forwards, inside and out”.
She noted this is an absolute necessity to identify priorities by order of importance, to craft tailor-fitted programs and projects that best address needs and to maximize the use of resources and avoid leakage or wastage of public funds.
With the creation of a baseline data, Belmonte noted city hall will now be able to identify their skill sets in case “they still want to do some part time work’’.
Equipped with these information, Belmonte noted these would help local officials to “think up better programs for them in the short to medium term’’.
Explaining further, Belmonte plans all QC residents to have an automated QCitizen card that will help city hall “spread out service delivery and ensure they get the services they need’’.
At the start of her official duty today, Belmonte assured there will be a strict housekeeping and internal governance policy under her administration’s close watch.
Consistent with her platform to promote and establish good governance in the city, Belmonte will issue executive order number which creates an Internal Audit Unit team under the Office of the Mayor.
Stressing her hard stance, impatience and intolerance against corruption, Belmonte said her first executive order will ensure “that all processes and documents are in order’’.
To rid city hall of scalawags and non-performing personnel, Belmonte stressed that the first executive order she will issue will be on a cleansing program to ensure that good and honest behavior would be “incentivized” while enumerating acts that would be considered as betrayal of public trust that will be penalized under the full force of the law.
This could include suspension or, in the worst scenario, expulsion from the service, regardless if they are department heads or lower ranked employees.
Belmonte noted that ideally, all planning must be made within the first 100 days using the baseline data “we have collected to establish our targets, objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPI).
Belmonte explained that “if our data shows that 10 percent of our Grade 4 students suffer from malnutrition, our target can be to lower the incidence of malnutrition by 5 percent within one year using the interventions selected for this purpose’’.
She maintained the importance of sticking to the plans made by the City Development Council as encapsulated in the City Development Plan and Annual Investment Plan.
Belmonte asserted this avoids “whimsical projects’’ and ensures that all projects and programs are need-based.
“I also intend to plan sectoral programs to include in the City Development Plan. This June we are already hosting an LGBT Summit, and very soon, a Solo Parents Summit,’’ she added.
On the reported P26.5 billion cash on-hand and in-bank left by Bautista as of May 31, 2019 at the city hall’s coffers, Belmonte clarified that P4.6 billion of these were “funds in trust’’ that were set aside for specific uses.
In expounding further, Belmonte said that around P2-billion were tied to long term investments, leaving the city with only P19.9 billion in general fund.
“The public has been informed that the city currently has around P26.5 billion cash on hand and in bank as of May 31, 2019. This figure may sound impressive but it behoves us to clarify where these funds are and how they can be used,’’ Belmonte cleared.
Those who also took their oath of office were Vice-Mayor Gian Sotto, Congressmen Onyx Crisologo, Precious Hipolito-Castelo, Allan Benedict Reyes, Jesus Manuel Suntay, Alfred Vargas and Kit Belmonte and members of the sixth districts of the city council.