MANILA, Philippines – Isko Moreno is ambitious, but ambitious not just for himself, but for the country, too.

At least, that was his pitch for the presidency during his one-on-one interview with the Philippines’ first Nobel laureate, Rappler CEO Maria Ressa.

The #WeDecide: First 100 Days special series of presidential interviews seeks to ask candidates to illustrate what their administration would mean and do for Filipinos. Moreno’s interview aired on Tuesday, April 19.

The 47-year-old Manila mayor’s long-term vision for the Philippines under his watch is to turn it into the next Singapore. Ressa pointed out a basic difference between the two countries – Singapore’s population is over five million while the Philippines has over 110 million people, Singapore is a small island, the Philippines has over 7,000 islands.

“There’s no harm in achieving or trying to achieve what Singaporean achieve, kasi sila ‘yung pinakamalapit sa atin, at sa kasaysayan, pinaka-dugyot (they are the closest to us, and in history, the most downtrodden),” said Moreno, an avid admirer of Singaporean leader Lee Kwan Yew.

“No matter what happened in the past, they achieved it, so hindi rin siya (so it’s not) impossible,” said Moreno.

How will he achieve this dream? The mayor said he would start by fixing the bureaucracy.

He said he is the man for the job because of his decades-long experience dealing with a city of red tape – Manila.

“It’s a very challenging city, especially when the time I assumed office – financially, physically, and the impression of Manila businessmen was there was no certainty. We’re not predictable on rules and regulations,” said Moreno.

He impressed many with his quick clean-up of notoriously chaotic streets in the city’s famous shopping districts. When he said persistence of vendors in the middle of streets meant he’s on the take, he made an impression of political will.

Formula

Moreno’s formula was simple: get the best people to head departments, even if they worked under political rivals; then order them to “expedite everything” related to bureaucracy and implementation of programs.

The more efficient bureaucracy would then be mobilized to focus on what he calls “minimum basic needs” – food security, health, education, jobs, affordable necessities like electricity and gasoline.

Moreno gives himself the first two years of a six-year presidency to address these pervasive challenges, made heavier by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think the first two years matter most to me of that six years mandate. Which is paano tayo makakatawid sa pandemyang ito? While we aspire [for] better things, good things, kapag gutom ang tao, namatay ang tao sa sakit, balewala lahat ‘yan. There’s nothing to govern if people are dying, so, I’ll go back to basic. Tawid lang kita,” he told Ressa.

(I think the first two years matter most to me of that six years mandate. Which is, how do I get us through this pandemic? While we aspire for better things, good things, if people are hungry, people are dying from disease, all of that doesn’t matter. There’s nothing to govern if people are dying, so, I’ll go back to basic. I’ll just get you through.)

Ressa described Moreno as “charming” like President Rodrigo Duterte, also a mayor who aspired for the top national post. His passionate supporters have often cited Duterte’s “authenticity” and unconventionality as key to his appeal. (READ: Isko vs Duterte: A comparison by a reporter who covered their campaigns)

But while Duterte has used fear of his persona to instill order, Moreno’s tack would be different: he said he would instill order by creating certainty that laws would be enforced without preferential treatment to any class or person.

“If you are certain and that certainty [of laws] would apply to the poor, middle class, rich, the powerful, those without power, I think that will trickle down, naturally, without instilling fear,” he said.

Protecting democracy

Ressa also asked Moreno about his hardline stance on online disinformation. In previous fora and debates, the tech-savvy mayor had said he would hold social media platforms accountable for the spread of false news and harmful propaganda.

To Ressa, he said this means finding a way to ensure anyone using a social media account uses his or her real name.

‘I’ll make everyone responsible…. One of the key is, ‘Okay, let’s make this account legit.’ So democracy can continue,” said Moreno.

Ressa then said, “When you say legit, you want their names?”

“Of course!” replied Moreno.

After the interview, controversial pro-Duterte blogger Mocha Uson began joining Moreno’s campaign events and endorsing his presidential bid, raising eyebrows about his commitment to fighting disinformation. Uson faces administrative and criminal complaints against Uson for spreading “fake news” during the time she was Palace assistant secretary. But to such concerns, Moreno has said that Uson must face those cases.

Last Friday, April 15, Malacañang announced President Duterte had vetoed a bill that would have required social media users to register their real names when creating social media accounts. 

Duterte cited concerns about freedom of speech and data privacy in rejecting the bill. The Duterte presidency has seen the rise of rabid disinformation networks bent on vilifying government critics. Presidential race front-runner Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been the major beneficiary of many such networks that have put out misleading content sanitizing the dictatorship of his father and outrightly denying the rampant human rights abuses in that time period.

Moreno alluded to this during the interview.

“Marami nabulag (Many were blinded). Because there’s too much smokescreen… Can you imagine, we’ve voted, chosen, through democratic processes on the premise of ‘sinabi lang,’ ‘napanood ko lang’ (‘someone just said,’ ‘I just watched it’). That’s what’s I’m worried [about], not as a candidate, but as a citizen,” said Moreno.

He hopes Filipinos vote, on May 9, for leaders with a proven track record and the people’s true interests at heart. Moreno hopes that voters see that kind of leader in him. – Rappler.com