Moreno remains confident of upset win

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Mayor Isko Moreno remains confident that he can pull a come-from-behind victory in the May 9 elections.

In a chance interview in Aklan yesterday, the Aksyon Demokratiko standard bearer said he targets to secure an upset triumph similar to that of US President Harry Truman in the 1948 presidential elections.

“If we all believe that history repeats itself, in the case of Governor Dewey and President Harry Truman, Governor Dewey (was) leading surveys for one year, even to the point that the Chicago Tribune printed the newspaper for tomorrow that Dewey won,” Moreno said.

The mayor was referring to the early edition of then-Chicago Daily Tribune, which relied on early polls prediction and erroneously reported that then New York governor Thomas Dewey defeated Truman in the elections.

Moreno said he has the backing of a “silent majority” of people who are tired of the “warring factions” since the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution.

Moreno added that in the 2019 Manila mayoral race, he also secured an upset win against then re-electionist mayor Joseph Estrada, despite Moreno, then vice mayor, ranking third in surveys at the time.

“In my election as Manila mayor, I was number three in surveys. Then on election day, 51 percent. People are just afraid to speak out, that they set aside their votes for a while. They believe that their votes are sacred,” Moreno said in Filipino.

The Moreno camp touted their “lean rallies” composed of tens of thousands of supporters, far from the turnouts of his competitors – Vice President Leni Robredo and the late dictator’s son and namesake former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

At least 10,000 supporters attended Moreno’s concert rally in San Jose Buenavista, Antique last Monday night and 65,000 in Carcar, Cebu last Sunday night.

Despite ranking a far third in recent surveys, he said he will continue his “retail” stump of holding small town hall meetings and motorcades to campaign directly to the people.

“I will crawl over asphalt, cement or farmland just to reach the people and meet them,” Moreno said in Filipino.