Ex-Dagupan mayor, 5 other city officials back Isko Moreno

Former Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez chats with her candidate, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno at a sorite in her city.

DAGUPAN CITY, Pangasinan, Philippines – Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso got a big boost in his presidential bid on Friday from former Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez and the rest of her team.

Fernandez and her team warmly welcomed the Aksyon Demokraticko standard bearer and his running mate. Doc Willie Ong and senatorial candidates Carl Balita, Samira Gutoc, and Jopet Sison, at the packed CSI Stadium where thousands of Pangasinenses excitedly await to see and hear their chosen candidate.

“Admired and served as an inspiration to many public servants, the leader that the Philippines and the entire Filipino nation needs, number three in the ballot — Yorme Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso,” Fernandez said in Filipino to introduce the candidate to a cheering crowd.

Fernandez’s team includes Vice Mayor Bryan Kua and four members of the 12-man city council. They later took the stage to raise the hand of Moreno and the rest of Team Isko to formally show their endorsement for the 47-year-old presidential aspirant.

Former Dagupan Mayor Belen Fernandez chats with her candidate, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno.

The endorsement of Fernandez carries a lot of weight among the estimated 115,000 voters of the city. She herself lost to the incumbent mayor in 2019 by a narrow margin of only 1,959 votes.

This practically assures Moreno of a sizeable chunk of the votes in this independent component city in the Ilocos Region, a supposedly solid bailiwick of the Marcoses.

Moreno thanked Fernandez and the people of Dagupan for their full support.

“Thank you very much to you all for accepting our team. Thank you very much to Mayor Belen and her team who gave us the opportunity to talk to the people of Pangasinan,” Moreno said in Filipino.

The significance of Fernandez’s support was not lost among members of the media present. They asked if Moreno was expecting more political figures and local officials to openly endorse him in the coming days.’

“Based on the hard life that I went through, and I’ve been telling you this, the principle of temperature: Anything above zero is positive. So as I have mentioned, for example, if a family’s favorite is Candidate A, and there are five of them in the family, if I can get just two of them, I’m OK. I mean, one way or another, if you add it up, I may [have a chance],” Moreno said.

Nevertheless, he said he would continue to strive hard to reach as many Filipinos as possible, in as many places as possible in the next 79 days to preach his clear platforms and programs that are based on real achievements to win the support of the people.

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno visited Dagupan City on Friday, Feb. 19, 2022, to drum up support for his presidential bid.

“For the meantime, we are focused on reaching the people — in the streets. Yesterday, on the highway, you saw our pitstop in one town. So anywhere, we’ll be there,” he said.

“So, I will strive hard. Doc Willie will strive. hard. Sam, Carl, and Jopet and I will strive hard,” he continued.

“We’ll just keep going. As they say, I don’t want a mango that has fallen on the ground. We will get up. We will pluck the mango. So we really have to strive hard,” he went on.

“The best endorsement for me is the endorsement of the people – the trust they give to the words that I say. And I hope that keeps on because in my own small way in Manila, everything I said came true. And I hope that sentiment will trickle down to the whole country.” he said.

Moreno, a former garbage man, became councilor of Manila at age 23, vice mayor a 32, and mayor at age 44.

If elected president, he vowed to address the perennial problems of poverty, hunger, unemployment, inequality, and social injustice by focusing on providing the minimum basic needs of the people — housing, education, health care, and jobs — through the efficient and prudent management of government resources.

These form the main pillars of his 10-Point Bilis Kilos Economic Agenda.

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