Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista led local and national officials in
the city’s celebration of its 75th Diamond Jubilee yesterday amidst
fireworks display at the Quezon Memorial Circle.
The year-long celebration was highlighted by various festivities
culminated by the Misa Ng Bayan at the QMC where thousands of barangay
officials and other parishioners formed long queues to get a closer
glimpse of the “Our Lady of La Naval’’.
Vice President Jejomar Binay, who opted not to deliver any message, was the guest of honor.
After the mass, a grand float parade was participated in by various organizations and some of the city’s 142 barangays.
In an interview, Bautista said the celebration also gave city
officials the chance to reflect and recognize the city’s gains through
the able leadership of the city’s past leaders.
He noted that his administration is focused on positioning Quezon
City as a “Global City’’ where foreigners will remember “Quezon City’’
and not Manila when they talk about the Philippines.
The mayor explained that his various trips abroad attending United
Nations meetings and World Bank confederation is geared towards the aim
of being able to showcase Quezon City’s salient points.
However, the lavish celebration leading to the city’s year-long
Diamond Jubilee celebration did not sit well with Bautista’s critics
mostly from the urban poor who claimed that the P85-million budget could
have gone to more pro-poor projects.
In reaction to his critics’ claim, Bautista said that rich cities
like Quezon City normally set aside a budget for these kinds of
celebration which a poor municipality or city would not dare to do.
He noted that pro-poor programs are being addressed appropriately
citing the hundreds of millions of pesos set aside for the socialized
housing programs of the government while talking about the P3-billion
the city loaned to qualified single mothers and female entrepreneurs.
“Sabi nga nila pag mahirap kang lugar focus muna tayo sa mga basic
needs tsaka na yung culture. We have enough money to spare so anybody we
can feel the importance of 75 years,’’ Bautista said.
“After 75 years medyo tahimik na (After 75 years the celebration
might taper down a bit. We just have to wait for another 25 years to
have another lavish celebration for the city’s 100th day founding
anniversary.
Aside from Bautista, those spotted at the Quezon Memorial Circle
celebrating the city’s 75th founding anniversary include Congressmen
Bolet Banal, and Winne Castelo.
Also present during the rites were Majority Floor Leader Jesus
Manuel, Councilors Victor Ferrer Jr., Allan Benedict Reyes, Candy
Medina, Raquel Malangen, Lena Juico, Star Valmocina, Godofredo Medalla,
Ally Medalla and Bayani Hipol.
