By Chito Chavez
The Quezon City Council has approved the P27.8 billion budget for 2020, a significant 23 percent increase from last year’s budget of P21.5 billion.
Mayor Joy Belmonte (Mayor Joy Belmonte Official Facebook Page / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Mayor Joy Belmonte said social services got the lion’s share of the budget at P12.3 billion, which is 32 percent more than the P8.4 billion in 2019.
Putting a premium on people’s care, Belmonte said the 2020 budget for social services comprises about 44 percent of the total budget.
Quezon City has also earmarked P10.1 billion for general public services, P4.2 billion for economic services, and P1.2 billion for the legislative branch.
“From day one, I knew that the bedrock of this administration would be service to the people,” said Belmonte.
In her first State of the City Address, Belmonte made it clear that her administration will strengthen the delivery of social services to local residents.
“We will build on our gains in the past, continue all good programs projects, and create new, stronger, sustainable ones,” she added.
Assistant City Administrator for Finance Don Javillonar noted the city government has focused on the delivery of social services through the Social Services Development Department (SSDD) and veered away from the usual practice of prioritizing infrastructure.
“We are balancing between growth of the city and the welfare of our people. We want to improve the lives of our people, we need to give back to them by putting the bulk of the budget on SSDD,” said Javillonar.
For 2020, Belmonte said the city government has multiplied four times the allocation for medicines and medical supplies to P2.2 billion, increased medical assistance from P3,000 to P5,000, and raised burial assistance from P10,000 to P25,000.
The city government has also allocated around P90 million for the health maintenance organization (HMO) for all city hall employees.
Despite the increase in next year’s budget, Belmonte assured the public that the city government “won’t burden local residents and business with increase in taxes.”
“We will simply intensify our tax collection efforts to fund our budget,” Belmonte said.