Presidential candidate and Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso has won the hearts and minds of Caviteňos as he offered his pro-poor agenda to the province.
In a town hall meeting in Naic, Cavite on Saturday, Moreno, the Aksyon Demokratiko standard-bearer, vowed that if elected president, he will give the people a government that focuses on the plight of the ordinary people, a government that listens and cares for their needs.
“I know that for many of you, before the pandemic, life was hard. Of course, we are even more devastated by the pandemic. It’s hard to be poor,” Moreno said, in front of more than a thousand residents.
“Hopefully, with God’s mercy and with your help, if I am lucky, you will have a government that you can lean on, that has ears, that you can run to, and that understands and listens to you,” Moreno said.
To achieve a government for the people, Moreno said his administration would prioritize providing the minimum basic needs – food, housing, health, education, and jobs.
To bring immediate relief to the people, the 47-year-old presidential aspirant said the first policies he would institute is to cut by 50 percent the taxes of petroleum products and electricity by 50 percent to bring more food on the table, raise family income and provide extra savings.
While the twin tax cuts may result in some P130 billion in revenue losses to the government, he said it will ease the plight of the poor and provide them the wherewithal to survive the pandemic in the next two years.
“I just want the government to step back a little bit first, the people to move a little bit. The losses of the government are for the benefit of the people. The fast method, when people can taste it right away, it alleviates their problems – cheap prices, being able to work, cheap fares, cheap electricity, ”Moreno said.
He said he would also build more modern public housing, public hospitals, and public-school buildings around the country, like what he did in Manila.
Under the leadership of Moreno, the City Government of Manila has built vertical housing units like Tondominium and Binondominium; built modern public hospitals like the Bagong Ospital ng Maynila and the Corazon C. Aquino General Hospital; built a Covid Field Hospital, and built 10-story modern public-school buildings.
Social assistance for senior citizens was also instituted, and public-school students were given tablets with free bandwidth for their online education.
Moreno said he chose to serve and give his time and energy to the people because it was the ordinary people who trusted and elected him to public office.
“People carried me, people carried me so I am indebted to the people. I only draw courage from you, ”he said.
He said even his choice of running mate and senatorial slate show his concern and love for the masses.
Vice presidential candidate Dr. Willie Ong, a heart specialist, has been providing the poor with free medical care for years now.