Belmonte: Loyalty to public service must prevail

MANILA, Philippines - Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has called on civil servants to maintain a high level of performance and to uphold loyalty to public service as politics begin to prevail in the political landscape of the country.

“We in Quezon City, our loyalty is to public service, we must maintain high level of performance in the delivery of public service,” the mayor told City Hall employees during yesterday’s flag raising ceremony.

Belmonte also announced the 4th Galing Pook Award recieved by the city government as proof of recognition of effective local governance.

Among the Galing Pook awards received are effective fiscal management, the Molave home facility where juvenile offenders are treated not as prisoners but wards and given counseling and basic education and the other Galing Pook award was bestowed on the Payatas controlled facility, its drama-tic transformation from scene of death to a model controlled facility where the first garbage to power facility is located. He made the call as he also assured over the weekend that the city’s business community that there will be no tax increases by his administration until the end of his term on June 30, 2010.

Belmonte, who is now on his third and last term as Quezon City’s chief executive, said that there is no need to increase the city’s tax rates because Quezon City, being business-friendly, is assured of the local business community’s cooperation and support in addressing the needs of the people.

He gave the assurance in his closing remarks at the QC Salutes Top Taxpayers dinner to honor the city’s corporate taxpayers. The testimonial dinner was held at the Crowne Plaza Galleria. “Many people, companies are contributing to the growth of Quezon City,” he acknow-ledged, as he expressed gratitude to the business community for its continuing support to the city’s economic development efforts.

He also assured the taxpayers that although Quezon City is the country’s richest city, his administration will stick to its policy of keeping the city government expenses “for housekeeping, like providing for offices’ needs and salaries,” to a level of not more than 60 percent of the budget, so that the rest could be used for infrastructure and projects for the people.  

P10.3 billion in collected taxes

To date, Quezon City’s gross collection of taxes has reached an all-time high of P10.3 billion and could exceed P11 billion by the end of the year, according to city treasurer Dr. Victor Endriga.

Honored as the city’s taxpayer awardees in the real property category were: (Premier – FY 2008) – SM Prime Holdings, Inc., Araneta Group of Companies, North Triangle Depot Commercial Corp., Robinsons Land Corp., Megaworld Corp., ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., Philipping Long Distance Telephone Co., GMA Network, Inc., Manila Electric Co., Nestle Philippines, Inc.

In the same category, also named top taxpayers, FY 2008, were: Citibank, NA, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Phinma Property Holdings Corp., Pilipinas Makro, Inc., Banco de Oro, Universal Bank, De Zuzuarregui Antonio, LBL Industries, Inc., Bank of the Philippine Islands, Rustan Commercials, Inc., San Miguel Corp., The Everliving Co., Inc., S & R Membership Shopping (Price Smart), Mercury Drug Corp., and National Bookstore.

In the business category, the Premier awardees were: SM Retail, Inc., Manila Electric Co., ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., Mercury Drug Corp., GMA Network, Inc., Araneta Group of Companies, Jollibee Foods Corp., Pacific Paint (Boysen) Phils, Inc., IBM Philippines, Inc., and Citibank, NA.

Also named top taxpayers, FY 2008, in the business category were: Dreamweaver Visual Exponents Inc., Maynilad Water Services, Inc., Golden Arches Development Corp., North Triangle Depot Commercial Corp., IDS Marketing (Philippines), Inc., Nestle Philippines, Inc., Robinsons Land Corp., Regan Industrial Sales, Inc., Chemrez, Inc., Manila Water Co., Fonterra Brands Philippines, Inc., Pilipinas Makro, Inc., San Miguel Corp., Coca Cola Bottling Co. of the Philippines, and Maxima Machineries Inc.

Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista and city treasurer Endriga assisted Belmonte in the awarding ceremonies.