Aksyon Demokratiko presidential candidate Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso
Aksyon Demokratiko presidential candidate Isko Moreno Domagoso has wrapped up his two-day barnstorming of Batangas province which was capped by another grand rally in Sto. Tomas attended by at least 25,000 people who wanted to see the Manila mayor in person.
A grand rally in Lipa City capped a hectic day of campaigning for Moreno on Friday with at least 65,000 Batangueños braving more than 9 hours of waiting just to see, hear, and express their full support to the Aksyon Demokratiko standard bearer during the Ang Bagong Lipa grand proclamation rally.
Prior to going to Lipa City, Moreno and the rest of Team Isko embarked on a series of motorcades and town hall meetings at the towns of San Juan and Balete where thousands of Batangueños mobbed their “future President.”
Team Isko held another motorcade Saturday and engaged the people of Batangas in the towns of San Nicolas, Bauan, and Sto. Tomas to cap the two-day Batangas sortie to win the hearts and votes of 1.7 million Batangueño voters.
Team Aksyon Demokratiko at the Grand Rally in Sto. Tomas, Batangas
On Sunday evening, the 47-year-old city mayor will attend the proclamation rally of Asenso Manilenyo local candidate led by Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna, who is running for mayor, and 3rd District Congressman Yul Servo Nieto, who is running for vice mayor.
Moreno, along with his running mate Dr. Willie Ong, Aksyon Demokratiko senatorial bets Dr. Carl Balita, Samira Gutoc, and Jopet Sison, and guest candidate John Castrciones of PDP-Laban, will be attending the Asenso Manilenyo rally in Earnshaw Street in Sampaloc District.
Earlier in the morning, Moreno led the inauguration of Tondominium 2, the second condominium building constructed by the city government for Tondo’s informal settlers as part of Mayor Isko’s mass housing program.
On Monday, Moreno and his slate will be going to Misamis Oriental for a whole day sortie, followed by another sortie in Lanao province on Wednesday, and a two-day barnstorming in the island of Mindoro on Thursday and Friday.
Moreno has expressed optimism that the vote-rich province of Batangas can help deliver the votes for him in the May 9 elections similar to what they did for another candidate who eventually won the presidency. Based on Commission on Elections figures, Batangas is the 7th vote-rich province in the country with 1,819,071 registered voters out of 65.7 million Filipinos eligible to cast their ballots for the 2022 elections.
“Malaki to, malaki ang Batangas tsaka napatunayan na natin na ang Batangas kaya magpanalo ng presidente. Dahil there was in the past history na talagang nagbigay eto ng volume na boto that change the course ng kandidatong presidente at siya naman ay nanalo,” Moreno told reporters after a campaign rally at the San Juan Municipal Gym.
To be able to win the trust of voters, Moreno had said he is banking on his rags-to-riches story — from being a scavenger, sidecar driver to being an actor and becoming a Manila councilor for 9 years, vice mayor for 9 years and city mayor. Pairing it with what he called a modest campaign would help do the trick, he said.
“Yung laban ko nung 2019, ang kalaban ko mga pedigree din, malalaki naman, at pinagtulungan din ako ng mga elitistang pulitiko sa Maynila dahil ayaw sakin ng mga political oligarch ng Maynila, sa awa ng Diyos at sa taumbayan, pangatlo pa ako sa survey nun diba, even last week before election, 51% binigay sa aking boto ng mamamayan,” Moreno said in a recent interview.
Moreno had said he prefers going directly to people instead of drawing crowds. “Ang maganda doon sa ginagawa nila, ma-achieve nila yung perception na malakas sila. Kasi marami sila dahil may drone shot. Ma-achieve nila iyon. Basta sa akin boto na lang, sa kanila yung picture,” the Manila mayor told reporters in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
“Hindi naman ito concert or something else. That’s why you be the judge… mas gusto kong nasa tao. Limandaan, tatlong libo, limang libo, kwarenta mil, 47,000 o 57,000 o 100,000 – basta huwag lang yung kausap ko kahapon, ay kausap ko rin ngayon,” Moreno pointed out.
Team Isko political and campaign strategist Lito Banayo confirmed there will be no changes in the campaign strategy of Moreno which is going directly to the people using a combination of motorcades and town hall meetings.
As Moreno previously stated in interviews during recent campaign sorties, Banayo said the most important way of campaigning is to go straight to the people by engaging them through town hall meetings and motorcades, and this will continue as the Aksyon Demokratiko national candidates led by Moreno visit more provinces and cities in the next few days and weeks.
“Well, napapansin din naman ninyo over past several weeks and even months na si Isko Moreno kasama ang kanyang team si Doc Willie at ang mga senador ay deretsuhang nagpupunta sa taong bayan. We pay courtesy visits to the mayor, or the governor or whoever is the political leader in a particular LGU but we go directly to the people. We engage in town hall events where the mayor speaks his heart out before the public because at the end of the day tao naman ang nagde-desisyon eh,” Banayo said in a recent press conference.
Banayo recalled that when then Davao City Mayor and now President Rodrigo Duterte ran for the presidency in the 2016 elections, almost no one bet on him. “Mai-refresh ko lang ang inyong memory. Nung 2016 elections eh halos ni isang congressman, ni isang governor wala naman pong tumaya kay Pangulo o Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte. Nagsampahan na lang yan one week before the elections,” he told mediamen at the National Campaign Headquarters in Intramuros, Manila.
“O yung isang governor dyan halimbawa no, tandang-tanda ko kasi dumaan sa akin. I think 10 days or a little less than two weeks before the elections at tsaka nakipag-lunch sa amin nila Mayor Duterte. Pagkatapos nag deliver naman ng boto. I mean whether diniliver niya yung boto or talagang alam niya na yung kanyang constituency sa kanyang lalawigan ay overwhelmingly Duterte. Alam nyo yun yun ang punto ko,” Banayo pointed out.
Banayo said during a political campaign, “it’s not about LGUs, it’s not about parties, it’s about whether you connect to people or not.”
“At the end of the day it is the sovereign people who make their decisions and they can do it quietly or they can do it noisily. Kaya kami hindi kami… hindi namin ginagawa yung naghahakot ng tao no. Ayan nakikita nyo naman sa social media meron nagsasabi na nagpunta raw sya Cavite, tapos nagpunta rin sa Quezon City, tapos nagpunta rin sya Pasig, at sa susunod na araw e pupunta raw siya sa Makati, no. Eh hindi ba niloloko mo sarili mo kung yung kinakausap mo eh yun at yun din ang kinakausap mo, hinaharap mo yun at yun din no?” Banayo explained.
RELATED STORY