The local government of Quezon City on Sunday revealed that it had earned back-to-back accolades from the Galing Pook Awards and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI).

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte has expressed their gratitude for the recognition, saying that the awards are proof that programs for QCitizens and the economic growth of the city are effective.

Belmonte received the award together with BPLD head Margie Mejia and SBCDPO head Mona Celine Yap at the 50th Philippine Business Conference held at the Marriott Hotel in Pasay City.

Last Friday, the Quezon City Birth Registration Online (QC BRO) program was recognized as one of the 10 winners of the 2024 Galing Pook Awards, during the awarding ceremony held in Malacañang attended by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Launched in 2022, the QC BRO has eased the burden of families in securing their children’s identities at birth. Since its inception, more than 59,000 children have been successfully registered at zero cost.

The QC BRO was institutionalized via City Ordinance SP-3198, S-2023, mandating all hospitals and birthing facilities in the city to utilize the QC BRO system, ensuring consistent and efficient birth registration across the city.

It has also been utilized as a source of reliable data for many local government agencies such as City Planning, Health, Gender and Development and Social Services.

Apart from QC BRO, the local government had another finalist in this year’s edition of the Galing Pook Awards — the Human Milk Bank Program, which was also a finalist in 2020.

The Galing Pook Awards recognize the outstanding and innovative programs of local government units. In 2020, the GrowQC urban agriculture program bagged the award, while in 2023, the QC risk monitoring and early warning system IRise UP was recognized as a Galing Pook awardee.

Earlier this week, the local government also earned the “Most Business-Friendly LGU” award for the second straight year in the highly urbanized cities category from the PCCI.

The Quezon City government, through the Business Permits and Licensing Department (BPLD), Small Business and Cooperatives Development and Promotions Office (SBCDPO), Local Economic Investment Promotions Office, and other department members of the Economic Development and Investment Board, has consistently hastened the economic development in the city through various programs, innovations, and system upgrades.

These include the aggressive digitalization of permits and document processing, MSME development, and other financial and training support.

As of this month, the city has already recorded more than 9,400 new business registrants, almost equivalent to the total number of new business registrants for the entire year of 2023.