Isko touts 24 years of government experience
Manila Mayor Isko Moreno (FILE PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines — As he sought to challenge Vice President Leni Robredo’s dominance on her home turf in the Bicol Region, Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso touted his two decades in government office as his primary advantage over her.
“I’ve been in the government for 24 years. I think in terms of experience, if we count the years, I’m very, very far away from my competitor when it comes to length of time in public service,” the Aksyon Demokratiko standard-bearer told reporters in Sorsogon City on Monday.
Domagoso was asked by reporters why he thought Bicol’s 3.9 million registered voters should pick him over Robredo, who received 1.5 million votes and won five of the six provinces in the region in the 2016 vice presidential elections.
The 47-year-old mayor said his strength lay in his administrative abilities, adding that he believed he was ready to take on the challenge of the presidency by “replicating and escalating” his programs in Manila on a nationwide scale.
“We are happy to be here to offer an option to [Bicolanos], so that if they don’t care for their neighbor (Robredo), then we are available,” Domagoso said.
Domagoso, a former actor, started his career in politics in 1998 as a Manila councilor.
On the other hand, Robredo, who spent more than a decade lawyering for neglected sectors, started her political career as a Camarines Sur congresswoman in 2013, a year after her husband, former Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, died in a plane crash.
On Tuesday, the mayor wrapped up his three-day tour of Bicol in Albay province, moving on to Negros island.
The campaign originally intended to visit Robredo strongholds in Naga City and the rest of Camarines Sur, but the plan was put on hold.
Speaking to reporters in Oas town in Albay, Domagoso said he would return to Bicol toward the later part of the campaign, which ends on May 7.
“I’m happy to be here and I want to say many, many thanks to Bicolandia. It’s been three days now — Masbate, Sorsogon, Albay — and, as you saw, even in our modest way of reaching them, many people really came out for us … so, thank you, Bicolanos,” he said.
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