Outgoing Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr., who is ending his nine-year tenure on June 30, is leaving the incoming Quezon City administration with P6.5 billion cash, an income rise unmatched in the city’s history.

Belmonte assured his successor, Mayor-elect Herbert Bautista, that he will be inheriting a financially robust city government that has already achieved a high level of sophistication in revenue management and an exemplary performance in liquidity and cash management.

“I am leaving Quezon City with a legacy that there will be no ‘time bombs’ here that could challenge the constitutionality of my administration as city mayor,” said Belmonte, who is eyeing the speakership post in the House of Representatives. Belmonte won last May 10, as congressman of Quezon City.

He expressed confidence that his successor will be able to invest effectively the city’s financial resources to help improve the lives of local residents, especially those belonging to the urban poor bracket.

From 2002 to 2009, the city government’s financial resources funded a massive socio-economic program at a scale unprecedented in the city’s modern history with investments in both social and developmental infrastructure reaching P17.70 billion.

Quezon City, beyond its current operating expenses, generated the highest percentage of savings among the local government units in the country to fund infrastructure development.