Belmonte aims to preserve Banawe's historical significance

Describing it as "go-to-destination" for car parts and automotive services, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte now wanted to preserve Banawe’s historical significance and maximizing its tourism potential.

At the celebration of Chinese New Year on Saturday afternoon, Belmonte in her speech said that people now also go to Banawe strip because of it's (Chinese) restaurants and retail shops.

"At this point, the City Government is at the forefront of preserving Banawe’s historical significance and maximizing its tourism potential. As a matter of fact, we are in the process of rehabilitating Quezon City’s Chinatown in partnership with the various Filipino-Chinese organizations with the objective of putting this tourism district on the map of the best locations to explore here in our city," Belmonte said.

Contrary to some of the bashers and bloggers' claims on social media that the city is just wasting tax payers money by celebrating Chinese New Year and beautifying the Quezon City Chinatown District, Belmonte said her city government is "innovative, dynamic, and forward-thinking" because of the "effective collaboration" they have engaging in with the various Quezon City-based Chinese-Filipino organizations, who provide investments in the city and give jobs to QCitizens. These organization, the mayor added, has continued to work with the city government in making Quezon City an "attractive destination for business".

"I was saddened to learn from my team that some people are poking fun at the improvements we are putting in place here, in their social media accounts," the mayor lamented.

"We regret their uninformed opinions and we take this as a challenge for us, together with our schools division, to exert more effort in educating our citizens about the tremendous contributions the Chinese-Filipino community have made to the progress and development of our city, not to mention how much richer Filipino culture has become because of all the Chinese cultural elements that have been integrated into it," she explained.

Belmonte also expressed her gratitude to the QC Association of Filipino-Chinese Businessmen Inc.; QC Chinatown Development Foundation Inc.; and the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. for their active participation in supporting the city’s many initiatives, which aim to deliver the best quality of public service to 3.2 million QCitizens.

"Our cooperative relationship is enviable and commendable, and attests to the fact that when we work together with no agenda but to raise our city to greater heights, we can truly achieve remarkable things," Belmonte said.

She added that the Chinese Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is close to her heart as "I am a proud member of a Filipino-Chinese family." Her grandfather, Go Puan Seng, the mayor said, emigrated from a town in Fujian Province early in the 1900s and went on to become one of the founders of a Chinese language newspaper called the Fookien Times back in the 1920s.

"My late mother, Betty Go-Belmonte, continued his fight for truth and justice through responsible journalism via the Philippine Star, which she founded in the 1980s, and to this day, both are highly respected by the Chinese-Filipino community for what they have contributed to nation building.The observance of this festivity reminds me of the family values that my Chinese family instilled in me growing up; and the several traditions that my siblings and I used to practice in respect of our Chinese heritage," she further explained.

"Kaya tunay na nakakatuwa na may buhay-na-buhay na Chinese culture at heritage rin tayo dito sa ating lungsod. Bago pa maitatag ni President Manuel Quezon ang lungsod, buo na ang Filipino-Chinese community sa Quezon City. Sa katunayan, nagkaroon na ng mga kalakal o trade mula sa Binondo hanggang sa Banawe simula 1590s. At mula noon, nagkaroon na ng mga pamilya ang ating Chinese traders kaya namayagpag ang Filipino-Chinese community dito," she added.