Quezon City hosts business investment summit

MANILA, Philippines  — The Quezon City government hosted a business investment summit Friday at the Novotel Manila to enhance investor confidence.

The highly anticipated event, with the theme “QC is Future Ready,” brought together investors, business leaders, business associations, chambers of commerce, foreign dignitaries and Quezon City government officials. 

The summit also served as an opportunity for the local government unit to engage with business leaders and seek their views on policies and programs for the mutual benefit of both the local government and the private sector.

“We want to achieve three things at this event. We want to generate investments for our city, build partnerships favorable to all QCitizens; and we want to make Quezon City the top-of-mind preferred investment destination,” said Margie Santos, head of the summit’s organizing committee.

Mayor Joy Belmonte, for her part, said she will pursue five major thrusts that will promote a robust business climate and increase investor confidence in the city. These are: social services for all, economic development, environmental sustainability, gold standard infrastructure projects, and sustained good governance.  

“Higher business confidence leads to jobs, higher productivity, increased labor demand, and accelerated economic growth. Our constant coordination with the business community enables us to foster a relationship of mutual respect and support,” Belmonte said.

“One of our major thrusts is that social services for all are guaranteed. Every year, we progressively increase the budget dedicated to social services. We started with a budget of P9.8 billion in 2019. This year, our budget is at P16.1 billion which has proven to be an inclusive social safety net for all marginalized and underprivileged sectors,” she added.

This year, the Quezon City government received its second straight unqualified opinion from the Commission on Audit for its annual audit report for the year 2021. State auditors give an unqualified opinion when they deem that a government office has fairly presented its financial statements according to public sector accounting standards.

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Disclosure: Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte is a shareholder of Philstar Global Corp., which operates digital news outlet Philstar.com.