- Belmonte responded to her haters through a lengthy statement
- She also assured her supporters that she will never let them down despite the criticisms thrown at her
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte gave a straightforward response to those who complained about her “slow” distribution of aid for residents amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak and the month-long lockdown in Luzon.
In a Facebook post, Belmonte responded to her haters who compared her actions to other city mayors like Pasig’s Vico Sotto, Makati’s Abigail Binay, and Valenzuela’s Rex Gatchalian.
She said, “To those who hate me, you are under no obligation to accept any of my projects – housing, education, healthcare, social benefits. That means there will be more for those who truly have faith in me as their leader.
Belmonte also hinted that she will run for reelection in the next polls.
“But please just show your hatred for me at the polls in 2022 because the people who want to be served and patiently wait for it don’t deserve for their lives and that of their families to be politicized,” she said.
She further explained that the suppliers were overwhelmed. According to Belmonte, Quezon City ordered some 400,000 food packs for over 2 million people right after the enhanced community quarantine advisory.
“We are slow? I think perhaps the suppliers were overwhelmed by the volume we were ordering and could not comply immediately,” the Quezon City mayor said, noting that the local government ordered canned goods and basic necessities for some 2 million people.
“The barangays [have been] using their Quick Response Funds released because we were the very first city to declare a State of Calamity,” she said.
“I don’t have a plan? That was the plan… [The calamity fund] would be used to support our constituents for the first week since I already knew that a volume of goods for 2M (million) people would take time to arrive,” she said.
In the last part of her statement, Belmonte assured her supporters that she will never let them down until the crisis is surpassed.
“To the few who still believe in me, I told you I would never let you down and I won’t,” she said.
“I will fight for you, until together we vanquish this virus. Just as you fought for me when all the people who don’t understand how I work and think abandoned and denigrated me,” she said.
Here are some of the hilarious comments of Twitter netizens about the Quezon City mayor and her response to the virus outbreak:
https://twitter.com/_joshuagravador/status/1241603722272108544?s=19
https://twitter.com/riannegayo/status/1241566176079011840?s=19
https://twitter.com/bugs_vani/status/1240890314476253185?s=19
https://twitter.com/damienful/status/1240948368634826753?s=19
https://twitter.com/jieunist_/status/1241584119944900609?s=19
Be a Vico Sotto, Isko Moreno, Francis Zamora, Marcy Teodoro, Rex Gatchalian in this world full of Joy Belmonte.
— Markee (@ykram1006) March 18, 2020
missing: mayor joy belmonte
last seen: 2019 election pic.twitter.com/7pY2OUczf9
— carson crowd (@carsoncrowd) March 18, 2020
Quezon City holds an estimated population of 2.9 million. It is known as the largest and most populated city in Metro Manila.
As of March 27, 2020, there have been 707 confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the Philippines. Out of the 707 cases, 45 deaths, and 28 recoveries were recorded.
