The ISKO MORENO Strategy

Newly elected Manila “Yorme” Isko Moreno is all over social media. 

With his Dutertesque style of doing things, he is catching the attention of many political watchers. A former actor, Moreno started his political career way back in 1998 as councilor of Manila’s first congressional district. After serving three terms as councilor, he eventually became Vice Mayor of Manila in 2007. And now 2019, he is the 27^th mayor of Manila, beating reelectionist and former President Joseph Estrada.

Moreno has been in politics for twenty years already, but it is only now that he is experiencing unprecedented popularity, though his being into the mayorship is just several weeks old. And such is attributable to his early mayoral activities that are being highly publicized in various social media platforms.

Whether we like it or not, Moreno is on a roll, and is fast becoming the toast of Philippine local politics.

The question that hurriedly comes to the mind now, is what strategy Moreno is using in order to show his beloved Manileños (and the rest of Filipinos as well) that he is every inch worthy of his new title.

In my own perception, the strategy is very simple – starting with the basics.

The Mayor is recently making headlines and earning praises courtesy of his clean up drive campaign. So far, he has decluttered many thoroughfares in Manila of illegal vendors, such as Divisoria, Recto and Carriedo. But he did not confine his drive to streets alone. Recently, he inspected the Liwasang Bonifacio and discovered the shrine of our hero Andres Bonifacio infested with human wastes, much to his dismay.

But what is the significance of such activities by the Mayor which are very basic and customary?

The answer is very basic as well: in a just-one-lift-of-a-finger fashion, he was able to take out illegally parked vendors clogging the busy streets of Manila. Moreno was able to do something about this decades-old problem which his predecessors were not able to deal with fully.

It could just be a simple, normal and routinary beautification drive, but the results are very immediate, glaring, and beneficial. Moreno was able to show that things can be done if one has a laser-like focus and political will.

To conclude this blog piece, the strategy being used by Moreno and his camp is very simple – solve those basic and immediate problems first which have been plaguing Manila for the longest time.

How to clean and decongest Manila is a basic problem Moreno is facing head-on, and he is leaving no stone unturned. A basic problem that is when solved will surely lead to immediate and drastic effects that are positive, empirical (observable), and advantageous to the majority (in fact, some roads are already clean and passable).

And advantageous too, to the newly elected Mayor of Manila.