Presidential candidate and Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso has vowed to institute a decisive government whose primary focus is the welfare of the people and the upliftment of the poor and fighting corruption and criminality while observing due process and the rule of law.
Domagoso, standard-bearer of the Aksyon Demokratiko party, vowed to expedite the delivery of minimum basic needs to all Filipino families to help them recover from the adverse effects of the pandemic through his “Life and Livelihood” platform of governance.
“Life, livelihood, work. These would be my priorities for the first two years. We will help our people and we will survive this pandemic. Many lost their jobs and I hope we can create more jobs the way we did in Manila,” he said during a television interview of presidential candidates that aired Saturday evening
“The Build, Build, Build [of the Duterte administration], we will continue that. But in our case, we will continue to build, build, build more schools, build more hospitals, build more housing to generate more jobs,” he added.
Having experienced poverty early in life, Domagoso said he understands the plight of the masses and pointed out that his 23 years in public service as a local government official were spent looking for ways to uplift the lives of the people from poverty and bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.
“As long as I understand the status of the people and the majority of us, what you see in Manila, what we did was all about people – housing, education, health, employment. Basic governance,” he said.
“The first thing I gave back to the people of Manila was dignity. When you provide poor housing, the quality of life rises immediately. You gave them a proper hospital, then they have a proper and decent hospital to run to. You let children study well, there is a nice facility. I think, naturally, these basic services addressing basic needs will alleviate the living conditions of a poor family,” Domagoso said.
Domagoso acknowledged that while others may say that his rhetoric and narrative smacked of populist politics and a call for a class war, his loyalty is to the people and what matters most to him is the result.
“My loyalty is to our people. The benefit of the people is important to me, not the benefit of the politician,” he said.
“At the end of the day, there is a goal and there must be a result. And results matter. That’s what’s important,” he said.