Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso. (File photo from Team Isko)
MANILA, Philippines — Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso capped his 90-day campaign for the presidency by spending much of his “miting de avance” criticizing Vice President Leni Robredo.
The 47-year-old mayor whose poll survey ranking slid to number 4 after asking Robredo to withdraw from the presidential race again slammed the only woman presidential candidate for her supposed elitism and lack of understanding of the poor, who make up the majority of Filipino voters.
Several times in his speech, Domagoso took swipes at Robredo for supposedly denigrating poor people by referring to them as “laylayan” (fringes or margins, in Tagalog) without realizing that she was looking down on people.
“You keep on inventing terms, but you still mess it up,” Domagoso told cheering supporters at the Moriones Linear Park in Manila’s Tondo district where he grew up.
Domagoso also accused Robredo of having preference for the rich by holding her miting de avance in Makati City’s Ayala Avenue, the country’s business district.
Domagoso spoke at length about how he would become a good president because he knows the needs of the poor, having grown up in the slums of Tondo himself.
Moreno again called on his supporters to put a stop to the country’s sufferings caused by the decades of supposed wrangling between the “reds” and the “yellows” who only brought “pasakit” (hardship) to the people.
RELATED STORIES
50,000 show up at Isko Moreno miting de avance in Manila
Isko Moreno says holding miting de avance in Tondo his way of showing gratitude to place of origin
Isko Moreno says ‘no regrets’ about remarks during Easter Sunday presser