Mayor Isko Moreno delivers his second State of the City Address in Manila City Hall, Manila on July 2, 2020. (File photo by RICHARD A. REYES / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — If elected president, Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, who is running for the post under Aksyon Demokratiko, said on Tuesday that he would not be hostile to critics of his administration.
“I will try to be reasonable to them. I will listen first to them — if their opposition to something is valid. Then, if it makes sense, then I’ll listen. If not, we go straight ahead again — because you’re the one that the people elected. You’re the one they’re depending on. You’re the one who’s managing,” Moreno, speaking in a mix of English and Filipino, said in an interview DXDD, an AM radio station in Ozamiz City in Misamis Occidental.
Citing his experience working with officials belonging to different parties, the 47-year-old mayor said he would encourage dialogue and reason in his administration.
“I can work with anybody. It’s proven already in Manila. Thirty-eight councilors [and the] vice mayor,” he said. “They were also elected by the people. Many of them are lawyers, from prominent families. But when I was managing, I would talk to them and try to be reasonable. I become reasonable with them,” Domagoso said.
He stressed, however, that he would not let endless debates paralyze the operations of the government.
“I try to convince [them] as much as possible,” he said. “What I tell them is that we are free to discuss. Free debate. But then debate, when it becomes a long discourse, will do nothing for the lives of people. What I want is, when the sun sets, there’s a decision.”