MANILA, Philippines -- Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte will join the Liberal Party in celebrating its 62nd anniversary on January 30 with a series of community-based activities in Barangay (village) Commonwealth in the city, the party said in a statement Friday.

Senator Manuel Roxas II, LP president, who is touted to be the party's standard bearer in 2010, thanked Belmonte, whose name has been floated as a possible administration bet for president, for helping organize the event.

“The LP is very grateful to Quezon City Mayor Sonny Belmonte for helping us organize this activity. We welcome such partnerships with local governments to give full meaning to our agenda of putting people first,” Roxas said.

He said Belmonte, together with other local officials, would join LP officials and members in the day-long activities that would include a medical and dental mission, livelihood skills training, and other community service projects.

Roxas said the party was open to all Filipinos who wished to contribute to meaningful and positive change needed to help the country be more competitive, modern, and progressive.

The LP anniversary celebration will culminate in a “mini-town hall meeting,” where party members and officials will interact and discuss current issues and advocacies with local residents, LP official Representative Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo “Jun” Abaya of Cavite said.

“Instead of the usual political speeches, we decided to start our community service program by helping the residents and market vendors of Barangay Commonwealth. We will, as a party, continue this outreach program throughout the year in different places in the country,” he said.

Abaya also explained that while the LP anniversary fell on January 19, the party leadership decided to move the event closer to the resumption of Congress to allow district representatives to spend their break in the provinces.

Abaya said the holding of community-based activities was in line with the directive of Roxas, who took over as party president from former Senate president Franklin Drilon last November, to operationalize the LP's agenda of putting people first.

In his election as party president, Roxas pledged to build a strong, united, and modern LP which he said must be attuned to the modern world but rooted in the party's core values and traditions. He said he would lead the Liberal Party in propagating the party's core beliefs that were “conscience over ambition, principles above glory, and integrity over power.”