QC Mayor Joy Belmonte (QC PIO / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
The lady mayor made the appeal after receiving reports about residents who had a hard time going to pay out sites due to medical situations.
“May report akong natanggap na pati bedridden pinilit na papuntahin sa payout site para lang sa verification. Hindi naman makatao ‘yun (I received a report that a bedridden resident was forced to go to the payout site just for verification. That is not humane),” she added.
Residents who are qualified for the second tranche of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) have been advised to claim their financial aid to designated payout centers.
Published May 10, 2021, 12:45 PM
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte on Monday criticized the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for “washing its hands” on its role to call out politicians who have been giving away non-FDA-approved, anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin to people as a cure against COVID-19.
Belmonte also said that instead of taking a “final stance” against its use, the FDA allowed its compassionate use and even gave approval for its human use as “anti-nematode” or anti-parasitic roundworms supposedly “to appease the politicians lobbying for it.”
“Rather than just take a strong stance against it and act against its distribution, they actually [said], okay let’s just approve it. It’s still approved as a parasitic drug, yes, but now there are ways and means to acquire it. I think that’s their way, for me, of probably appeasing the politicians,” the mayor said.
Published May 7, 2021, 1:44 PM
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte warned that social unrest may arise should the government prolong the implementation of strict quarantine rules in the country.
Belmonte on Friday said she is in favor of easing quarantine restrictions, especially in cities like Quezon City, “which is very, very big,” as social unrest may be triggered by hunger and poverty.
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte. Screenshot from National Press Club FB Live
“I’m open to (easing quarantine rules)… We always say that we have to balance health and economy. But in a city like Quezon City, which is very, very big, we have another problem that I’d like to raise: the issue of social unrest,” Belmonte said in a forum hosted by the National Press Club of the Philippines.
Published May 6, 2021, 10:15 AM From a bamboo cart on Maginhawa Street, Patricia Non has inspired many Filipinos to open community pantries and share what they can to feed the poor.
The woman behind this remarkable initiative is only 26 years old, a graduate of UP College of Fine Arts, and an entrepreneur running a small furniture making shop whose operations stopped due to the pandemic.
Before the community pantry, many knew Patricia as a volunteer or organizer of activities to help the poor.
Fifteen months after the first lockdown in the whole island of Luzon, it took a 26-year-old woman to start the spread of kindness through an act of concern and generosity.