Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte has vowed to apply learnings from her stint in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), an international leadership program sponsored by the US State Department, to better serve her constituents.

Belmonte joins seven other top LGU officials from around the world to the U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program running from July 11 to July 21 in Washington, DC.

The program will engage delegates on the principal pillars of the Summit’s 2022 Year of Action, including strengthening democracy, advancing respect for human rights around the world and fighting global corruption.

Delegates will have a chance to share ideas with peers, organizations and technical specialists in US cities and raise the public profile of democratic innovation at home and abroad.

“It is an honor to be selected as one of the delegates to this prestigious exchange program. I consider this as recognition of the outstanding work that the city government has done to advance the welfare of our city and our QCitizens,” said Belmonte.

“The learnings that we will gain from this event would certainly be put to good use. We will fully utilize them for the betterment of our city and of our constituents,” she addendum’

Belmonte has committed to continue her good governance initiatives in her second term after receiving various accolades from the Commission on Audit (COA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The Quezon City government just received a second straight unqualified opinion from COA for its annual audit report for the year 2021.

The local government also obtained an “unqualified opinion” for its 2020 annual audit report following the auditor’s conclusion that all financial statements were prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework.

Likewise, the DTI recently handed the Quezon City government five awards, including 1st Place in the Most Competitive LGU in a Highly Urbanized City category, at the 2021 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMC) Summit.

Aside from its first-place finish, the Quezon City government also obtained 2nd Place Most Competitive in Economic Dynamism, Government Efficiency and Infrastructure, and 3rd Place in Resiliency.

In the past, mayors from the Philippines who have joined this by invitation only premiere exchange program include Vice President and former Mayor Sara Duterte and former Manila Mayor Isko Moreno.

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