Isko Moreno: I was also a victim of bashing!

Like Alma Moreno, Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno (who’s running for senator under the Grace-Chiz banner) was also a victim of bashing. However, instead of letting the bashers put him down, he did some kind of soul-searching and proved his detractors wrong. How did he do it?

“I studied,” Isko told the movie press at a recent presscon. “I took the bashing as a challenge.”

Two weeks ago, Alma (also running for senator with the Binay-Honasan tandem) appeared as guest on the ANC show Headstart hosted by Karen Davila. Because she was unable to expound on issues (same-sex marriage, RH Bill and some such controversial topics), Alma was bashed by netizens as a know-nothing candidate. In that interview, Karen was speaking in English and Alma in Filipino (foreigners must have found it amusing how the two were able to communicate with each other).

Those who sympathized with Alma claimed that Karen was “a bit hard” on Alma (an incumbent Parañaque City councilor), to the point of being condescending, when Karen should have been more empathic. (Alma’s claim to political fame was her experience as First Lady of Parañaque City when her ex-husband Joey Marquez was mayor and her stint as head of the Councilors League of the Philippines.)

“I could see that Alma had a point,” said Quezon City (5th District) Rep. Alfred Vargas. “Kaya lang, she wasn’t eloquent enough to explain herself.”

Like Isko, Alma should take the bashing less of a letdown than a challenge. She can learn from Isko how to turn what is perceived as a “disadvantage” into an “advantage.”

“It was a wake-up call,” admitted Isko who served as councilor for three terms before he won for the city’s vice mayor (on his third and last term). “’Yung pangungutya sa akin ay hindi ko pinansin. I knew my limitations. I was aware that people looked down on actors running for public office at naging challenge din sa akin’yon.”

He resumed his studies rudely interrupted by poverty and took advantage of scholarships, initially in local universities and then in the US. A few years ago, he was lucky enough to qualify for a grant from the US State Department, the only Filipino in a group sent to Washington and other states like Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Seattle.

“We studied programs about effectivity and efficiency in governance, and also transparency in office,” Isko had told The STAR in an interview. “When I came back, I applied what I learned. One of them was to launch the first and only session hall run only by solar power.”

Three years ago, Isko applied for a short executive program at the John F. Kennedy School in Harvard.

“It had something to do with crisis management,” he explained in a follow-up STAR interview. “We discussed the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina (in New Orleans), the wildfire that destroyed a wide area in San Diego, California, the H1N1 epidemic, terrorism, etc.”

Besides his being an actor (discovered by talent manager Wowie Roxas and built up by German “Kuya Germs” Moreno), what endeared Isko to the masa, especially among his fellow Tondo residents, is his self-made success.

Isko (Francisco Domagoso in real life) was born on Oct. 24, 1974, to Joaquin Domagoso, a stevedore at Manila’s North Harbor, and Rosario Moreno who hails from Samar. An only child, he started at age 10 helping the family make ends meet by pushing a cart, going from house to house gathering bottles and then settling them at a junk yard. Early on, he learned that there was dignity of labor.

“I would check out the garbage cans of the restaurants for leftover food and my mother would re-cook them for our  dinner,” recalled Isko without a tinge of embarrassment. “My favorite restaurant was Jollibee kasi maraming leftover doon.” (He should be an endorser for Jollibee, don’t you think?)

Said Isko, “It’s not a sin to be poor. What is a sin is if you are poor and you don’t strive to rise above yourself.”

With his bid for a national position, Isko expects the same smear campaign revived against him — that is, his nude photo taken when he was starting in showbiz.

“It’s in the Internet,” said Isko. “I don’t deny that it’s me in the picture. Kitang-kita naman, eh,” adding in jest, “I have to check it every now and then to make sure that nobody is tampering with it. Tinitingnan ko kung babaguhin nila ‘yung size sa ibaba.” Then he laughed.

That kind of pa-macho talk sits well with his fans.

“Now you know how I was able to have several children with my wife,” he boasted, still in jest, refusing to name his wife and their children. “I want them away from the limelight para hindi ma-intriga.”

Incidentally, Isko also appeared as guest on Karen Davila’s show and he acquitted himself very well.

Not only Alma can look up to Isko as a role model. Other actor-politicians also can and should.

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