QUEZON City will have its own Bangsamoro cultural village that would be developed into a tourist destination, Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte said Sunday.
Amid the recent approval of the Bangsamoro Organic Law by the congressional bicameral conference committee, Belmonte is seeking to involve the city in the Bangsamoro people’s movement for peace through the development of a model cultural village in Salaam compound, Barangay Culiat.
“I was thinking along the lines of transforming the Salaam compound into a tourist destination. Now, it’s still not as pretty, but you know it’s just a matter of fixing the electrical lines, making some sidewalks and then asking residents to spruce up their façade,” she said.
The improvement and development of the compound is a joint project of Belmonte and a cause-oriented group, designed to transform the area into a “flourishing green economy” under the campaign “iLove Quezon City.”
The group is working with landscape architects and volunteers to provide vertical gardens and solar lampposts as well as values formation and training for residents.
Belmonte said her vision for the compound is a cultural village that is “reflective of the culture of the Muslim people, but right in the heart of Quezon City.”
“They cook traditional halal Muslim food. So now, what you just have to do is make sure that their food is safe, has sanitation permits, and then you can actually bring tourists there to eat,” she said.
Culiat residents can do business with their relatives in Mindanao and bring spices, malong, and other products to Quezon City, the vice mayor said.