This city got its name from Manuel L. Quezon, the first President of the Philippine Commonwealth. Quezon City has a land area of about 160 square kilometers which is about 25% of Metro Manila in terms of land area. It is located in the heartland of Metro Manila, with a population of about 2.7 million people. It has four (4) congressional districts represented each by a congressman or a member of the House of Representatives. The Mayor is head of the City and the Vice Mayor is the Presiding Officer of the City Council. The Council is made up of elected Councilors representing their Districts.

The local government of Quezon City is headed by Mayor Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. He was elected as City Mayor in 2001 and will serve until 2010. When Mayor Belmonte was elected in 2001, he inherited a bankrupt government. The city was heavily indebted and unable to pay more than a billion pesos to various suppliers and contractors. The City was poorly managed and could not deliver the basic services to the residents.

In less than three (3) years, Mayor Belmonte was able to turn the City into the richest City in the Philippines. How did he do it? He first instituted the needed reforms like streamlining and computerizing the revenue assessment and collection functions of the city. He was able to develop a database that contains 400,000 property units capable of serving 20.000 taxpayer transactions per day .He likewise overhauled the garbage collection and payment system and instituted other needed fiscal management reforms aimed at generating more revenues for the city. He eventually made substantial savings by streamlining the garbage collection system and reduce the incidence of graft and corruption in most operating departments of the City.

One of the known contributory factors that led to the enrichment of the city's coffers was the aggressive collection efforts by the City Treasury in collecting real estate taxes. The City was able to collect substantial amount from the residents who were in arrears in their property taxes. Most of the tax delinquent residents were threatened with immediate foreclosure and auction of properties due to non-payment of taxes that remained unpaid for many years. The city offered concessions like extended payment terms, discounts, etc. Tax amnesty option was likewise made available to residents. He also got rid of about 3,000 casual employees; most of them are political appointees. These innovative policies proved effective and the residents cooperated when they realized that the Mayor was serious in his tax collection efforts.

Today, the city government continues to generate substantial revenues in the form of income and business taxes. The residents have cooperated while the business community continues to support the Mayor in his programs for people of Quezon City. One of the reasons why city continues to get the needed support of the residents is the visible infrastructures that are being implemented by the city. This includes concreting of roads, construction of school buildings, markets, housing for the poor and other public utilities. For sure, the residents will continue to support the administration of Mayor Belmonte for as long as they see where their taxes go.

Because of the healthy financial position of the city, the Mayor has embarked into building state of the art infrastructures for the business community. These include among others, the transformation of part of the UP Campus into a modern business hub where multinational offices and business process outsourcing are relocating and the conversion of the Timog-Tomas Morato area into a Tourism Zone.

About the Mayor

Mayor Feliciano Belmonte, Jr.is a former Congressman and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Former President of Philippine Airlines and GSIS, former President of Philippine Jaycees and Jaycee International, a Paul Harris Fellow for Rotary International, Mr. Belmonte is a Lawyer. His late wife, Betty Go-Belmonte was the founder of Philippine Star, a major Philippine Newspaper. He also served in various capacities in the Executive Branch of the Government and in major private corporations in the Philippines.

As I sat in church last night listening to the keynote speaker, I couldn't help but linger on the first point he made. Naturally, a good speaker will open with a funny comment or a joke which helps to ease the crowd and create better listeners. His said, “Surfside ... wow” and that he can't help but not take the name serious. He had never been to the area and assumed it was a beach-side church with a lot of surfers. It was quite funny to hear it from that perspective, which is always the case when you listen to an idea outside your box. But then I couldn't help but wonder about the issues behind the joke.

Thinking like a marketing strategist, such as the well-intentioned Denise Triece who spoke to the council about creating a break-away chamber of commerce, one will know the importance of a name or label for any market; including tourism. The power of a label convinced me for years to purchase an overpriced product that made my back ache, but hey, those shoes looked good on me! And the perception I wanted others to have of me had no dollar limit and was resistant to back pains - which I'm paying for now.

As a community we have labeled our town as The Family Beach and it doesn't get any more clear than that. It's obviously understood which kinds of people, activities and businesses we want in our town. When people hear New York City, they think it never sleeps. When people hear Florida, they think retirement. When you hear Surfside, what do you think? South of Myrtle Beach? The Pier?

The Family Beach? What do you desire other people to think about Surfside? Are they thinking family beach or are they thinking a beach-side town of surfers? The places I mentioned above have been labeled based on the behavior of the area and those identified there. For instance, the Big Apple is always active, 24 hours a day. Do I even have to mention which city is The City of Sin? They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but I think that's only because it's illegal everywhere else. Florida is a refuge for retires and has been identified by the population of its people.

With that said, how does Surfside represent the label, “The Family Beach?” Does it feel like a family? If so, is it the kind of family that never talks to each other and only comes together during the holidays, or perhaps the type of family that doesn't take too kindly to outsiders? During the summer, I can't help but noticed a majority of families tending to congregate around the Myrtle Beach area and not so much the Family Beach area. Does that mean our neighbor meets the criteria of a family beach better than we do? After all, we're the Family Beach. It's puzzling to think about all those things but it's something very important to consider.

Sometimes people and places can be overrated. For example, a 6'5”, 290lbs boxer may seem like a sure champ; but if he's got a glass jaw then he may not live up to his nickname, “The Bone Crusher.” Can the same be said for a town? Are we not living up to the hype? At the height of his career, Mike Tyson was unstoppable. They called him the champ, he performed like a champ, and when the match was over - there was no doubt who the champ was. They called him Iron Mike Tyson because of his famous knockout blows. When people want to take a vacation to gamble, the first place that comes to mind is Vegas. So when families want to go on vacation, why shouldn't they first think of Surfside?

What does Surfside stand for and what does it mean to you? These are questions that each individual must come to terms with. It's great the way it is and it could probably get better. But every family experiences growing pains and eventually, at every stage in life, we learn to accept our own identity. Regardless of what the world may think or how they perceive all us “Surfers,” one thing remains certain, our high values make us one helluva town!