Activities / SB In Action
08 December 2008
Speech of Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte, Jr.
2009 Gawad Parangal for Outstanding Quezon City Citizens
December 10, 2009, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Quezon City
Decades ago, when I first began working as a reporter at the Manila Chronicle, covering the police beat and events at the COMELEC, I noticed how ordinary people could easily become heroes or tragic victims, depending on the situations they find themselves in and how they acted in the face of problems.
When I became mayor in 2001, this extraordinariness of people became more vivid realities in almost every aspect of governance. In truth, the wheels of development and empowerment do not revolve solely around government. In many ways, private citizens and institutions have been moving lives, uplifting communities of people, creating more channels for a much transformed future.
In 2002, when we thought of the Gawad Parangal, we thought of extolling living living and dynamic role models for our youth. While our heroes inspired through their recorded histories, we thought our young people could relate better with persons whose accomplishments they could see around them.
The happy dilemma we face every time we process these awards is that we have so many nominees – all deserving and all distinctive in different ways. Quezon City has so many outstanding individuals and organizations; the challenge each year is to discern the cream of the crop.
Today, as we commemorate the 70th year of our City’s founding, we celebrate our proud past, our very confident present and look forward to a very resplendent future. We highlight the role of our founder, President Manuel L. Quezon who created this city, based on his vision for a “paradise for working men,” inspired by the spectacular vista he beheld from the plateaus of the vast Diliman estate.
We remember our heroes, Andres Bonifacio who led his men in Pugad Lawin, in rebellion against an oppressive regime; Tandang Sora who nurtured and nursed the wounded Katipuneros; and our contemporary heroes, Ninoy and Cory Aquino, and the thousands of men and women who stood up against the dictatorship in People Power.
We remember our mayors, both living and deceased, each of whom have left their distinctive imprint on the development of our beautiful city. In previous years, we celebrated Gawad Parangal with all of Quezon City’s surviving mayors. This year, we give tribute to the five who are deceased, and have served the City from its founding in 1939 to 1976.
We celebrate the milestones we are very proud to have earned from 2001 to 2009. In many of those achievements, private – public partnerships have figured very strongly.
We have overcome bankruptcy and mediocrity to become the most competitive city in Metro Manila today, and second in the whole Philippines. The foreign business community has ranked us as one of Asia’s top city of the future. The crediting agency, Standard & Poor, has determined us to be the most bankable local government in the Philippines.
We have been elevated to the Hall of Fame as the Most Business Friendly City in the Philippines. We have now earned four Galing Pook Awards – for Effective Fiscal Governance, for the Molave Youth Home, for the Transformation of the pioneering Payatas Landfill, and now for our Parks Development Program.
We are celebrating 70 years by creating new benchmarks. Being with you, outstanding men and women and organizations, inspires us even more to push the bar higher, because we are motivated by the extraordinary accomplishments you are making.
Quezon City honrs you today because you are inspirations for all people – not only from Quezon City, but from everywhere. Your accomplishments touch so many areas, that it had been difficult for our judges to fit each of the awardees in specific categories.
Let me say that a common trait that is found in all of you is that you are all humanitarians. You have clearly demonstrated a resolute sense of mission of empowering others. Your passion to help others has led to spreading levels of action that are giving the marginalized, much improved qualities of life. You are all geniuses for ideas that work, and acts that generate gains so exceedingly well.
Quezon City thanks you all for all your help to our people, our communities, and others who have benefited from your actions and inspiration.
This year will be my last conferring the Gawad Parangal. I hope it will be a tradition that my successor as mayor will be happy to continue. It is but fitting that this year, we are doing it at the end of the year, because it provides a very positive closure to the rest of the year and a joyous starting point for next year.
Again, congratulations to all of you!
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Mayor Feliciano Belmonte’s message during his Oathtaking as new member of the Liberal Party
19 November 2009, Amoranto Theater, Quezon City
Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. took oath as one of the newest member of the Partido Liberal ng Pilipinas (Liberal Party) last November 19, 2009 at the QC Performing Arts Theater at Amoranto Complex, Quezon City. Also joining the party are Quezon City Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista and QC Associated Ladies Foundation Chairperson, Joy Belmonte-Alimurung. In picture (L-R) are Senator Francis Pangilinan, Liberal Party Vice Presidentiable Mar Roxas and Liberal Party Presidentiable Noynoy Aquino. –photo by Bunny Dunton
Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. presides over an initial meeting of the members of the Quezon City Polytechnic University’s board of regents held recently at the city hall. The highlights of the meeting include the oathtaking of the newly designated board of regents, with Belmonte sitting as its chairman. Also sworn in as board members are Councilors Bernadette Herrera-Dy, Winston Castelo, Jorge Banal Jr. and Ariel Inton Jr.; city technical assistance committee head Salvador Enriquez Jr.; businessman Ramon Orosa; and representatives from the Commission on Higher Education, and the school’s student council, faculty and alumni association. JOEY VIDUYA