Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte on Tuesday said she will seek closer collaboration with various government agencies and the private sector in fixing the city’s problems.
She vowed to forge more partnerships with national government agencies, private companies, and organizations in addressing the socioeconomic problems of the city, such as poverty and housing.
“Partnerships will be beneficial for us and if I become the mayor. I want to initiate more partnerships with government agencies and with the private sector,” Belmonte said.
Through cooperative agreements and creation of inter-agency bodies to focus on issues, such as poverty alleviation, public housing, education and criminality, the city government could maximize the use of its resources, she added.
“I think all our problems in terms of poverty mitigation, housing, livelihood education… these can all be solved with proper partnerships with the private sector, the non-government organization sector and with the public sector,” the vice mayor said.
Inter-agency partnerships should be able to help the disadvantaged sectors in highly urbanized cities, such as illegal vendors, informal settlers and urban poor, reformed drug dependents and former convicts, senior citizens and persons with disabilities, and victims of disasters and natural calamities.
According to Belmonte, the city government could work out agreements with Department of Labor and Employment, Technical Education and Skills Development Administration and other related agencies.