RECENTLY, a list of names with matching pictures of ‘incoming Cabinet secretaries’ made the rounds on social media.
Some, or probably all of them, ran in the 2022 May elections but did not make it. A few can really make eyebrows rise in utter shock.
Apparently, the list came out since the one-year prohibition for the last polls’ candidates to be able to hold public office again is in the offing.
Well, honestly, of those who fell into that list, there is only one that I can really take seriously and that is, former Manila Mayor Isko Moreno.
If indeed he is being eyed to hold the post of Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), I can say with certainty that the position fits him to a T, for so many reasons.
Firstly, he has already held the post of a DSWD Undersecretary in the past and needs no more briefing as to what the job of a Secretary actually entails.
And then, looking at his short stint of only three years, Mayor Isko’s accomplishments came at a dizzying speed. I know this for a fact because I covered him.
Mayor Isko’s poverty roots are an open book so it is easy to surmise that many of the good things he did for Manila stemmed from what he lacked as a poor boy from the slums.
He made sure that those who cannot afford the high cost of health care are taken care of via the city-run hospitals serving all six districts of Manila. These are on top of the 44 health centers that are nearer to the communities.
When the pandemic hit, amid the lockdowns and job losses, Mayor Isko was quick to work on providing food packages.
All families living within the city, regardless of status in life, were able to receive basic food supplies, including those who were stranded in the city and are not residents and Manilans who were relocated to other towns and cities.
He sought the valuable assistance of then Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna, also a doctor and Presiding Officer of the 38-member Manila City Council, to head the health cluster addressing all concerns about COVID-19 and to swiftly pass the measure that created the city’s social amelioration program (SAP) that benefitted the most needy sectors of the city.
When anti-COVID medicines were scarce and highly expensive during the height of the pandemic, Mayor Isko found ways to be able to buy directly from the makers. He gave the said medicines free of charge, even to non-Manilans, saving thousands of lives.
At a time when vaccines were highly in demand but not enough, Mayor Isko tapped the help of his then Secretary to the Mayor Bernie Ang who paved the way for the city government to be able to buy hundreds of thousands of Sinovac from the Chinese government. Manila, I heard, was the only local government unit (LGU) in the country that was able to do so.
And the list goes on…
As a former garbage collector and scavenger who literally ate from the trash, Mayor Isko knows how it is to be dirt poor and what the sector from where he came from exactly needs.
He does not need immersion, study, or be advised on what to prioritize, what steps to take, or how to address the needs of the poor Filipinos, especially when calamities hit. He’s been there.
Most of all, he inspires those who have nothing in life to strive hard and never let go of the hope that through hard work, one can rise from poverty. He hit rock bottom but went back up and succeeded.
Mayor Isko is living proof that in life, nothing is impossible. If tapped, he will be such an asset to the government of President Bongbong Marcos, Jr.
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