The rise of Isko Moreno

Minutes before he went up the stage in the ballroom of New World hotel in Makati to get his award from People Asia magazine as one of its “Men Who Matter” this year, Isko Moreno told me he was still in disbelief why all these beautiful things are happening to him. It was not the first time that the 36-year-old public servant would be receiving a recognition, but Isko, now on his second term as vice mayor of the City of Manila, said every time he would be presented with one, he couldn’t help but be thankful and reassess himself.

Dapper in his suit, Isko, that night, was the exact opposite of his short-pants days when he was driving a pedicab and pushing a cart to collect old newspapers and used bottles in almost every nook and cranny of Tondo. The only child of a stevedore father and a homemaking mother, Isko, whose real name is Francisco Domagoso, learned early on in life how to work so he could contribute to the family kitty.

Things would change for the better for him when a talent scout spotted him in a wake in Manila. In 1992, the pedicab driver Isko became a mainstay of the German Moreno show called That’s Entertainment. The actor in Isko was crafted. It helped that he was blessed with good looks, expressive eyes and bushy eyebrows that defined his own brand in the cutthroat industry of show business.

In 1998, while he was at the peak of his career in the tinseltown, he bade showbiz adieu and entered politics. He thought he could serve better if he were in public service. Despite being inexperienced, he gave his all in the campaign and won as first-time councilor of Manila. He topped again the election as councilor of Manila in 2001. On his third term in 2004, Isko proved that he was still the topnotch councilor. Of course, the next step for him was to run for vice mayor in 2007, which he won. He is now on his second term as vice mayor after winning last year.

Moreno and the author Büm Tenorio Jr. Photo by WALTER BOLLOZO

To say that Isko is self-made is underlining the obvious. So his detractors in politics wouldn’t have the chance to belittle him, he took the effort to study. To better equip himself as a public servant in the first district of Manila, Isko enrolled in crash courses at the University f the Philippines taking up Local Legislation and Local Finance. He studied Public Administration at the Pamantasan ng Maynila while religiously attending to his constituents.

“Last year,” Isko told me at the holding room of the awardees for the “Men Who Matter”, “I was sent by the US Embassy to attend a leadership seminar for two weeks in Washington. I was with public servants from other countries. I was told that all those who have attended that training have fulfilled their bigger dreams to serve.”

Isko did not deny that he has higher ambitions when it comes to public service.

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Isko said he’s now happily married to his wife Diana Lynn. They have four children  Vincent Patrick, Joaquin Andre, Franco Dylan and Frances Diana. 

I met Isko when he was already part of the show business. That time, my best friend Christine Dayrit and I were producing telecines for Christine Films. Isko was one of our bankable talents who came to the set an hour before the call time.

“Do you remember your first telecine with us?” I asked Isko.

“Walang Katapusang Wakas,” Isko answered with certainty. We ruminated on the past and happily remembered that Walang Katapusang Wakas, a telemovie about love and witchcraft, won in the GMA Bahaghari Awards in the mid-‘90s.

Because Isko was so real, we became friends instantaneously. Sometime in 1995, he put up a tapsilogan in Moriones, Tondo. There, we would sell tapsilog to customers. In my desire to be of help, I volunteered to be his pro bono part-time PR for his small food business. We had fun manning the eatery. It was Isko’s recipe for fried rice  a little bit moist  that he served in the tapsilogan. We would buy fresh meat from Asuncion market. Isko, many times, would be the one to marinate the beef. He even cooked in the kitchen. I doubled as a waiter to add to his workforce. Of course, a customer photo op with him was part of the meal. I must have invited people from my barrio in Cabuyao to the perfumed crowd of Forbes Park to eat in his tapsilogan. We surely had fun in that little tapsilogan.

One time, in 1996, he drove me home to Laguna when my Lolo Pindoy, uncle of my father, passed away. But before going to the wake, we stopped by the house first. Word spread around in my barrio and other nearby villages that Isko was in my house. In a jiffy, people swarmed at our humble home. Isko had a field day signing autographs and posing for pictures with the people. The same scene happened when we went to my lolo’s wake. His presence surely consoled my relatives. Not only that, he decided to stay overnight at the wake as he played games with those who were in the wake.  

Before Christmas of 1996, Isko asked me and his friends from Tondo to go to Baguio for the weekend. He wanted to test drive his new green Volkswagen. He couldn’t believe that he was driving a car. He was almost teary-eyed when he recounted the days when he was pushing carts in the streets of Manila.

“Gusto ko lang namang mag seaman. Pag mahirap ka, yan ang ambisyong alam mong kaya mong gawin (I only wanted to become a seaman. When you’re poor, you know you can fulfill that ambition),” Isko told me before.

In a restaurant on Session Road, Isko, in between bites of savory fried chicken, told me: “Dati nagbubungkal ako ng mga basurahan sa mga restaurants, naghahanap ng mga tira-tira. Iuuwi ko yon. Tapos lulutuin ng mother ko. Hapunan na namin yon (Before I would rummage through the garbage bins of restaurants to look for leftover food. Whatever I found, I would bring it home. Then my mother would cook it. That was already our dinner).”

Gone were those days. Though Isko has come a long way, he has kept a humble heart. He is an inspiring proof that those who dream succeed.

(For your new beginnings, please e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com or my.new.beginnings@gmail.com. You may want to follow me on Twitter @bum_tenorio. Have a blessed Sunday.)