Looking forward to the new mayor’s plans

WHEN Manila mayoralty candidate Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso joined us in Manila Bulletin’s “Hot Seat” roundtable discussion before the election, he spoke of many plans he hoped to carry out for Manila if he got elected.

He bewailed that Manila has been left behind other Metro Manila cities on so many fronts, notably business and industry. Where the Escolta used to be the top commercial area in the country, it has long been eclipsed after so many decades by the Makati business district, Ortigas in Pasig, Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, and in the reclaimed area across Roxas Blvd. in Pasay and Parañaque.

If elected, he said, he would focus a great deal of attention on Binondo, a largely neglected area north of the Pasig River; on the Arroceros area whose trees make it Manila’s remaining lung; on Roxas Blvd., where he plans an elevated area for pedestrians and bikers with open-air cafés and restaurants; on city vertical housing for informal settlers; and on a much cleaner, garbage-free Manila.

Now that he has won the Manila mayoralty election, we look forward to these changes, the plans for which, he said, will be borrowing heavily from Singapore’s development program. There are many other problems he needs to face if only

to catch up with the progress of most of the rest of Metro Manila.

Manila has one great potential the other cities do not have – its history. It was the heart of the Spanish colonial regime for over three centuries. Intramuros has its historic walls. It was where our national hero Jose Rizal spent his last night before walking to his execution in nearby Bagumbayan.

American Admiral George Dewey defeated the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay in 1898, marking the end of Spain as colonial ruler in the Philippines and the start of the United States as a world power. It is this same Manila Bay that is in the news today as possibly the most polluted water body in the Philippines and the new Manila mayor wlll find this one of his greatest challenges.

Moreno served three terms as councilor for Tondo starting in 1998, followed by two terms as vice mayor starting in 2007. These years have given him an idea of the problems he now faces as mayor.

During his interview at the Manila Bulletin’s roundtable discussion, he disclosed that he worked as a garbage collector when he was a high school student, which is why he was concerned over the garbage in the city. So the first thing he will do if he won, he said then, is to “clean up Manila.” We look forward to this cleanup and the many programs he has in mind for our city.