Aksyon Demokratiko presidential candidate Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso on Friday said if elected president, his administration would give priority to investments in education to ensure the future of the youth.
“If the youth are the hope and future of the nation, let’s invest in the youth,” Moreno said during a dialogue with the youth in Cabuyao, Laguna.
“I will make sure that your father has a job, and I will make sure that you go to school, your school is good. Access to facilities and educational institutions will also be provided,” Moreno stressed.
According to Moreno, to do this, he will continue the “Build, Build, Build” projects of the current administration, at the same time embarking on projects to build more public schools, more public hospitals, build more public housing, more businesses and more jobs.
Moreno said his administration would also invest on information technology infrastructure, particularly on improving internet connectivity for their educational needs.
The Manila City mayor also said a Moreno government will prioritize the teaching of subjects that would make the youth more competitive with those from highly-developed nations.
“We will continue to invest in STEM—referring to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—so that we will be competitive with Singapore and other countries. We will go in that direction,” Moreno emphasized.
Moreno’s economic agenda of slashing the excise taxes on oil products and electricity and reviving micro, small and medium enterprises are also investments for their future as these would result in more savings for their parents and provide them with more job opportunities.
Since most fresh graduates get their first jobs in business process outsourcing (BPO) centers, Moreno said investment in human resources development for the transformation from BPO to KPO (knowledge process outsourcing) which gives more income to about three times better pay.
“When you graduate, we will engage in new developments from BPO to KPO. For new graduates, we need to adopt the new skills,” he stressed.
Moreno said he is confident that he can deliver all these could as he had already accomplished them in Manila.
“Your dream has already come true in Manila,” the 47-year-old Manila City mayor said.
Under Moreno, the Manila government built seven hospitals, seven public schools, distributed tablets to public school students in order to continue their education under the blended learning scheme, access to free wi-fi, as well as regular allowances for public college students.
However, Moreno challenged the youth to also invest in themselves by pursuing their education with dedication, adding that poverty should also not be a hindrance in their pursuit of education.
“Students, never give up. Study hard. I have to pursue my life in education. I tried to study and take care of my studies,” he said.
When he first entered public service as city councilor at age 23, Moreno then was only a high school graduate. He pursued higher education to polish his knowledge and skill, subsequently earning a degree in Business Administration degree at the International Academy of Management and Economics (IAME).
Moreno continued his post-graduate studies at Harvard University under the Executive Education Program and the Strategic Leadership Program at Oxford University.
Moreno also had two years of law school at the Arellano University, got his Masters in Public Administration at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM), and Local Legislation and Local Finance at the University of the Philippines’ National College on Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG).
Meanwhile, Moreno also vowed that under his presidency, he will focus on the minimum basic needs of the people which includes housing, health, education, and employment.
“I am a believer of minimum basic needs. This is the reason why in Manila, we focused on mass housing intended to provide decent shelter for informal settlers, we built new hospitals, and new school buildings,” Moreno told reporters in an interview.
The Aksyon Demokratiko presidential bet also vowed to provide employment for the people, especially those who lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I will make sure na may trabaho ang mga magulang nila. First things, first. While it is true that we provide free education, ang estudyante, kailangan pa ring kumain, kailangan pa ring mamasahe para pumasok sa pag-aaral. Pag may trabaho ang ama, ang ina, mairaraos pamilya nila,” Moreno said in an ambush interview at the sidelines of his dialogue with the youth sector in this city.
Moreno said while he will continue with the “Build, Build, Build,” one of his priorities is building first-class public schools comparable to that with private schools in terms of facilities and amenities.
“We will not just build an ordinary school. We will build more facilities within a building to make our public school system competitive with private schools,” he said.
The 47-year-old Manila Mayor said this has been done in the Philippine capital, citing the 10-story fully air conditioned buildings in Rosauro Almario Elementary School, Manila Science High School, and the Albert School that included a 1.5-hectare land development.
“Next important is connectivity. We will invest more with our bandwidth to make it available to our students in relation to future blended distant learning,” said Moreno.
In Manila, students were provided with monthly 10 gigabytes of free data for their blended learning. Next year, Manila students will receive free 20 gigabytes per month with rollover courtesy of the local government.