Not in Speaker’s character

This refers to the recent performance survey conducted by Pulse Asia Inc. on top national officials, which showed the rating of House Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte go down from 45 percent to 41 percent. (Inquirer, 3/23/12) Some political observers attributed Speaker Belmonte’s drop in rating to the accusation of a Metro Manila congressman that the Speaker pressured the 188 congressmen into signing the impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Renato Corona.

It’s not in the nature and character of Speaker Belmonte to do that. Having worked with the Speaker for nine years (2001-2010) when he was mayor of Quezon City and I as a city councilor and chairman of the committee on ways and means, I know whereof I speak.

I remember when then Mayor Belmonte asked me to author and sponsor the landmark Quezon City Ordinance 1080 Series of 2001 which called for the revision of the obsolete tax code and the alignment of business tax rate system from municipal-based to city-based system “to conform with the need of the time.”

Never did the Speaker compel me and my colleagues to sign and/or approve the tax-hike measure which turned to be the saving grace for the then financially ailing Quezon City government. For with the additional funds, the measure generated, the city government was able not only to pay its mounting debt; it also made Quezon City the country’s richest city.
I hope I have made my point.

—VICTOR “JUN” FERRER,

barangay chair,

Bahay Toro, Quezon City