03/08/2025
Bilis Kilos, Walang Arte: A Day with Isko Moreno, the Relentless Mayor of Manila
by Donya News Network (DNN)
If you want to know what public service looks like on full throttle, spend a day with Isko Moreno Domagoso — the once and future golden boy of Manila politics, now back in city hall with sleeves rolled up and Facebook Live on standby.
It was 8:00 a.m. when Donya arrived at the heart of Manila’s governance. While most people are just warming up their coffee, Mayor Isko was already knee-deep in courtesy calls, donation acceptances, agency meetings, and follow-ups on school construction sites — many of which were started during his previous term but were left in limbo under the last administration. This time, he vows to finish them with speed. The same signature that stamped his first term with “Bilis Kilos” energy.
By noon, he had already dropped by a slaughterhouse that had been flagged on his social media (yes, he reads the comments — and responds). By early afternoon, he was in a private housing compound dealing with tenant complaints — even if it technically wasn’t under city jurisdiction. “Kahit papano, makita nilang may gobyernong handang makinig,” he said. And that’s classic Isko: acting fast, showing up, and never hiding behind the fine print.
The Power of Presence
By the time he got back to city hall, his office was still packed. People from all walks of life — barangay captains, donors, civic groups, even ordinary Manileños hoping to air concerns — filled the halls, some waiting hours for a five-minute audience. And the Mayor? He received them all, smiling, standing, chatting, nodding — all on camera, livestreamed, no secrets.
That’s another thing about Isko Moreno: transparency isn't just a buzzword, it’s a broadcast. Critics call it performative. He calls it accountable. “Alam ng mga taga-Maynila kung nasaan ako. Hindi ako nawawala,” he says.
Dirty Work, Clean Results
Some have dismissed his urban clean-up campaigns as cosmetic, the bare minimum. But Isko claps back with grit: “Hindi nila alam kung gaano kalaking bagay sa taga-Maynila ang malinis na kapaligiran.” Try telling a CBD-dweller in Pasig about the dignity that comes with clean sidewalks in Tondo. Not everything needs to be flashy. Sometimes, the simplest interventions are revolutionary.
Let’s not forget — it was under Isko’s leadership that the city saw the construction of high-rise, in-city public housing, modern public hospitals with equipment rivaling private institutions, and cutting-edge public schools that finally gave students a decent place to learn. These aren’t pipe dreams. They exist. And they were built because someone refused to wait for national subsidies or endless feasibility studies.
Governance on the Go
The Donya finally got to sit down with the mayor around 7:00 p.m. — almost the last appointment of the day. Or so we thought. Over a working dinner, department heads and councilors came in and out, handing reports, asking for guidance, cracking jokes. It was a carousel of problems and resolutions: a pedestrian bridge finished in 17 days here, a food aid distribution report there, followed by a barangay concern, a stray anecdote, another construction update.
By 11:00 p.m., the mayor was still planning to pass by one last site before heading home. He had barely slept the night before, and already had an 8:00 a.m. schedule the next day — as always, streamed live.
Loud, Visible, Relentless
Some call his style too loud, too media-savvy, too political. But maybe they’ve forgotten what quiet leadership has cost us — decades of invisible mayors, inactive governors, inaccessible public servants. Isko Moreno is noisy because he wants to be heard. He’s visible because he doesn’t want to be forgotten. He moves fast not because he wants praise, but because there’s just too much to do.
He may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But for the people of Manila — especially those whose homes have floors instead of floodwater, whose children now study in clean, well-lit classrooms, whose elderly finally find medicine in public hospitals — Isko Moreno is the kind of mayor who shows up, solves things, and stays late.
Say what you want about the man, but one thing’s for sure: he gets things done. And in a city as chaotic, complicated, and criminally neglected as Manila — that, in itself, is a revolution.
