With just a few days before the May 9 elections, Aksyon Demokratiko vice president Atty. Bobbit Roco said the party, along with the Alliance for Isko Movement (AIM), has gone full blast with their campaign strategy dubbed “Switch to Isko” in a series of media briefings to drum up support for Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso.
The son of the late Senator and Aksyon Demokratiko founder Raul Roco stressed that the media blitz is part of their campaign to further increase public awareness on the qualities and track record of Moreno that makes him the most qualified among the presidential candidates to be the next President of the Republic.
“Isko is the only one who follows the principles of Aksyon Demokratiko – honest governance, opportunity for all, special privileges to none, we will look after the people, productivity, and prosperity. And then of course, let’s not forget the environment and education. Isko does all that. I don’t think any other candidate can say the same thing,” Roco said.
“Our duty is to increase awareness. One way to increase awareness is to go through the 32 media centers in the Philippines just to say that someone is looking around when you shout Isko Moreno Domagoso,” he added.
Part of the “Switch to Isko” campaign strategy to increase awareness is to highlight Moreno’s many achievements as first-term mayor of Manila despite the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aksyon Demokratiko national chair Ernest Ramel said Moreno’s solution-based approach and swift action amid diversities makes him the leader that the country needs in these trying times.
“Why do you need to switch to Isko? Because he is the only one who knows and has experienced what millions of Filipinos are going through every day, he is also the one who has proven and proven. Everyone promises, Mayor Isko has done it—there is still a pandemic,” Ramel said.
Despite the pandemic, the city government of Manila, under Mayor Isko’s leadership, built modern public hospitals like the Bagong Ospital ng Maynila; modern public school buildings like the New Manila Science High School; and modern housing for informal settlers like Tondominium, Binondominium, and Basecommunity which created jobs and livelihood opportunities when the people needed them most.
Ramel also cited Moreno’s massive cleaning and beautification drive, innovative mass vaccination program, free mass testing, and medicines for COVID-19, and various social assistance programs among others.
Besides the media campaign, the Switch to Isko also includes two Bus ni Isko and 204 registered vehicles that roam across the country to give various campaign collaterals, house-to-house activities, and city caravans in order to raise awareness and intensify Moreno’s campaign.
The Switch to Isko campaign has been very successful, Roco said, with the latest edition bringing him and AIM leaders in Bacolod, Iloilo, Baguio and Pangasinan in the past days.
Roco said the Switch to Isko awareness campaign, along with Moreno’s sorties in out-of-the-way areas and rarely visited municipalities, had convinced a lot from the silent majority to cast their lot on Mayor Isko, who they consider as one of their own.
Just recently, over 50 volunteer groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) coming mostly from the camp of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. switched their support to the Aksyon Demokratiko standard-bearer in an event aptly dubbed “The Biggest Switch” that was held at the Great Eastern Hotel in Quezon City.
All in all, the organizations present at the event boast of more than 10 million members nationwide.
Roco said the number of supporters switching to Mayor Isko more than offset the very few deserters who left the campaign which, he said, have been overblown by media in the first place.
“The funny thing about leaving us is two or three. What the media is telling, including the whole group. A few days later, they find out, it’s just them. The group is not included. It’s a dirty game,” he said.
“It would imagine that most of the news comes back, it’s because ‘how much happened.’ Those who work also have to live. It’s not good, but it’s really like that in our politics, in our reality,” Roco said.
Nevertheless, he said Aksyon respects the decision of those who chose to leave, be it a free one or a “paid choice,” saying it’s all part of the democratic process.
“I respect their decision, they really need a little… like that here in the Philippines, in politics. The good thing about the switch now, the three are switching, more are switching to Isko,” Roco said.
Having said that, the Aksyon Demokratiko leader urged the public to be more discerning in their choice of candidate, and vote for someone who can really deliver a better Philippines from what it is now.
“We are entering the eleventh hour of the campaign, close to 12 o’clock. Everybody is encouraged to go out to campaign for the candidate that they want. I’m just saying, you must want Isko because he is I think the best candidate for the job, especially given the problems the Philippines is facing right now. We need to work together. Not because of allies or neighbors. We are talking about the Philippines now,” Roco said
