Feliciano "Sonny" Belmonte, Jr. assumed the leadership of the Quezon City government on July 1, 2001. Instituting effective governance has been the focus of his administration from its first day in office. His thrust is to make the City competitive in terms of its ability to:

• Manage and deliver its services to the people;
• Promote the growth and flow of commerce within the City through process and infrastructure improvements, and through better traffic management;
• Encourage and obtain the support of its constituents in its programs and projects through greater government-public sector collaboration.

His guiding principle is to make the Quezon City government a model of effective governance and responsible leadership to hasten the City's development into a Quality Community that is:

• Dynamic
• Productive
• Healthy
• Nurturing and caring
• Safe and secure
• Environment-friendly
• Well-governed.

From the City Mayor emanates all executive authority and responsibilities. The City's Executive Branch is composed of 17 departments and 9 Offices. Through the years, program or service-based units, committee and task forces have been organized to undertake activities that become necessary as a result of population growth and added responsibilities under the Local Government Code.

Legislative power is lodged with the City Council headed by the Vice Mayor as the presiding officer. Members of the City Council are the 24 Councilors representing the four districts of Quezon City, the President of the Liga ng mga Barangay and the President of the Panglunsod Federasyon ng Sangguniang Kabataan. The Office of the City Secretary serves as the Council secretariat.

As of December 31, 2002, the City government had 5,192 permanent employees and 4,643 contractual employees. The City government holds office at the City Hall constructed some 30 years ago.

At the community level, leadership is conferred by electoral process on Barangay Captains, one for each of the City's 142 barangays. Aside from the Barangay Captain, the barangay government consists of 7 Barangay Kagawad members, the Sangguniang Kabataan Chairman, the Secretary and the Treasurer.

Present Trends and Emerging Patterns

Land Use: The City is predominantly residential, with residential areas comprising 45.45% of its land area. But it has retained its institutional character with the presence of the Philippine Congress, other national agencies, academic and specialized medical institutions. The City also has a large, open space system with the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife, Quezon Memorial Circle and UP Arboretum as the core, while the Novaliches Watershed provides additional greenery. Commercial growth is mainly sited along major thoroughfares. Industrial development, meanwhile is relatively contained in the traditional industrial areas at Balintawak, Novaliches, and Ugong Norte.

Transport and utilities: The city is traversed by several major metropolitan thoroughfares, namely C-3 (Araneta Avenue), C-4 (EDSA), C-5 (Katipunan - Luzon - Republic Avenue), R-6 (Aurora Blvd.), R-7 (Quezon Avenue - Commonwealth Avenue) and R-8 (Bonifacio Avenue - Quirino Highway), which link the city to the rest of Metro Manila. These thoroughfares are supplemented by main and secondary intra-city roads for area-wide mobility and by numerous tertiary roads that provide access to minor communities and individual properties.

Construction and completion of major transport and infrastructure projects is expected to trigger further development in the city. When completed, the projects will increase the flow of people and commerce throughout the city. Ongoing projects include:

Additional LRT lines:

• LRT Line 2 - fully elevated track utilizing Aurora Blvd. alignment, from C.M. Recto to Katipunan Ave.; has a length of 11.76 kms;
• LRT Line 3 - also known as EDSA MRT; its extension from North Ave. main terminal to Monumento (Caloocan) is about to commence.
  " LRT Line 4 - from Quezon Avenue Mabuhay Rotonda to Quirino Ave., using alignments of Quezon Ave., Commonwealth Ave. and Regalado Ave.; length is 18.35 kms;

Circumferential roads:

• Circumferential Road-4 (C-4). Planned improvements along EDSA include the construction of West / North Ave. Interchange and Roosevelt Ave. Interchange.
• Circumferential Road-5 (C-5). An alternative to EDSA utilizing the Katipunan Ave., Luzon Ave., and Republic Aveenue route, will be undertaken through a build-operate-transfer scheme.

Local and other national road projects:

• Mindanao Avenue - extension from Quirino Highway to Gen. Luis Ave. in Valenzuela.
• Improvement of Congressional Avenue - extension from Visayas Ave. to Luzon Ave.
• Inter-neighborhood Roads - construction of connecting segments of identified community roads to serve as alternate routes to decongest major roads.

Water supply
Like the rest of Metro Manila, Quezon City gets its water supply from MWSS and its private distribution concessionaires, the Maynilad Water Service Inc. (MWSI), serving the west half of the city and Manila Water Co.(MWC) the east portion

Power Supply
The electric power requirement of the city is adequately serviced by the Manila Electric Company or MERALCO. More than 97% of the city's population have access to electricity. It should, however, be noted that there are still areas unserved by MERALCO such as in most parts of Payatas mainly due to right-of-way and land tenure problems.

Solid Waste Collection and Disposal
The city's Environment Protection and Waste Management Department (EPWMD) reported that in year 2000, the average daily collection volume of garbage was 1,500 tons, that reflects per capita waste generation rate of 0.69 kg. per day. Garbage collected is disposed of at the open dumpsite located in area I of Barangay Payatas.

The city government is developing alternative disposal modes that are environment-friendly, through a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).