Belmonte running for QC mayor
Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte announced yesterday her plan to run for mayor in next year’s mid-term elections.
Belmonte, who is on her third and last term, said she would seek the city’s mayoralty post with a platform focused on bringing about change to the city and its residents.
“They say that if you want change to happen, it’s really in the local level,” she said. “I wanted to be an effective agent of change.”
Calling it a “natural progression” for her to run for a higher post, Belmonte said being a mayor puts her in “the perfect position wherein I can enact greater change.”
“I think in the past seven and a half years, I have gotten a firm grasp of the problems of the city. I think that is a clear advantage I have over other candidates who are considering to run for mayor,” she said.
“I have become well-versed with the problems unique to the city,” she added.
Belmonte was first elected vice mayor in 2010 alongside then vice mayor Herbert Bautista, who succeeded her father, former speaker and now Quezon City fourth district Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr., as mayor.
The Bautista-Belmonte tandem ran virtually unopposed in the 2013 and 2016 polls.
Bautista is also on his third and last term as mayor.
Belmonte, a member of the ruling Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban, vowed to continue improving internal governance and pursue greater transparency in the city government if elected mayor.
“I think it is important that the government is seen to be open, truthful and accountable in order to build trust with the people,” she said.
She pushed various advocacies as vice mayor and head of the city council, including legislation and programs on health, poverty, women and children’s welfare as well as peace and order.
Belmonte, who chairs the city anti-drug abuse advisory council, has been active in supporting the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.
“Our focus is on life and giving drug surrenderees a second chance,” she said.
Around 16,000 drug dependents have surrendered, with over 1,200 about to complete the drug rehabilitation program offered by the city government.
“We are trying our best to live up to that promise: that if you surrender, you get treated and we will help you get back to the mainstream of the society,” the vice mayor said.
Belmonte has yet to announce her runningmate and the rest of the candidates who will join her ticket.