Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso on Tuesday took his Listening Tour to Sitio Liit, Barangay Purok 1 in San Joaquin, Iloilo to attend the Domagoso-Sandoy Family reunion and finally meet his paternal relatives.
San Joaquin is the birthplace of Mayor Isko’s father, Joaquin, who in his youth went to Hamtic, Antique and later on tried his luck in Manila in the 1960s and worked as a stevedore in the ports of Manila.
In the slums of Tondo, Manila, Joaquin Domagoso would later meet and fall in love with Rosario “Chayong” Moreno, a native of Allen, Northern Samar, who bore him a son who was named Francisco Moreno Domagoso.
Moreno said he is very happy that after spending all his life in Tondo thinking he is all alone as a Domagoso, he has now actually touched base with his humble roots. The Sandoys are the offspring of his father’s sister who remained in San Joaquin.
“I am happy because for the first time, I have seen what kind of environment my father was born in. Now I am no longer a rare species. In Tondo I was alone. And at least it’s true, there are many of us, Sandoys, Domagoso. I am not a rare species,” Moreno said to a crowd of about 200 Ilonggos composed mostly of his relatives.
“I feel very orphaned, but now it seems like the size of my family,” Moreno added.
The Aksyon Demokratiko standard-bearer said he is also happy that he was able to prove to the whole world that everything he said about his humble beginnings was true.
Moreno said he is proud to be a Domagoso, because it was from his father that he learned the value of hard work, persistence and uprightness, qualities that have brought him success in his life, both as a fledgling actor and later on as councilor, vice mayor and now mayor of Manila.
He recounted how his father always went to the pier to look for work even if he was not on duty, always hoping that he would be noticed and given work so he could provide for his family.
“When there is no duty, I go to the pier hoping to be called (for work). Then I heard him say ‘don’t lie there, when you wake up our house is still four corners.’ So, I learned from my father, work, work, work, look for a job and when you work, improve to be noticed by you,” Moreno recalled.
“This is what you can be proud of here in San Joaquin. Even though my father was poor, he did not steal, he did not do bad things to others,” he said.
Moreno said the same could be said to his mother, who taught him the value of discipline in his early life in the slums.
“My mother did the same, she did not steal and did not harm anyone. But my mother, I took all the butt there. Every little twitch, hit there hit there. Very disciplinarian. In fairness to her, if my mother hadn’t disciplined me, I might have been lost,” Moreno stressed.
The 47-year-old presidential aspirant said his family’s life story should serve as an inspiration to ordinary folks like the people of San Joaquin.
“Those who are here today, don’t ever lose hope. Who can say that it is possible that here in the land where we live and here in the land around it, someone can be the president of the country?” Moreno said.