By Robert B. Roque Jr.
Returning Mayor of Manila, Isko Moreno, is on to cleaning up the city—quite literally. Just hours into his first day back in office, he hit the ground running, scrubbing the city’s streets clean and giving Divisoria a proper bath. Photos of a flushed Recto Avenue showed what looked like a city shaken back to order. The tone is unmistakable: Manila is waking up—and this time, it’s not to trash-strewn mornings.
It’s reminiscent of 2019 when Moreno’s first term began with the same vigor, back when he turned heads and roused hope by tackling Manila’s decay with a broom in hand and sleeves rolled up.
And this isn’t just a symbolic sweep. On Day 1 alone, Moreno signed 20 executive orders—tackling sanitation, street vending, red tape, and safety. That’s buckling down to work. Which, let’s be honest, is no easy feat when the mayor’s office itself was stripped bare. Word is, the previous occupant left nothing behind—not even a chair or file cabinet. Did she furnish the place with her own money? If so, then fair. But she didn’t just leave an empty office—she left a city reeling from a mess that’s more financial than physical.
Manila reportedly owes some ₱950 million in unpaid obligations, with ₱561 million in garbage debt alone to Leonel Waste Management Corp. The former mayor claims the contractor walked out. Either way, the city is stuck with the bill.
Good thing Manila now has a mayor many still herald as a hardworking problem solver. And as someone born and raised in the city, I—like many others—want real change. Not for That’s Entertainment. Not for reel. But for real.
And as Manila turns a new page, perhaps so should its leaders.
Mayor Isko, for all his grit and determination, never shied away from crediting his early learnings in public service to someone who shaped his path—the late Vice Mayor Danny Lacuna. In more ways than one, the elder Lacuna was a mentor and a father figure to the once-aspiring seaman turned mayor. So much so that when Isko clinched the mayorship in 2019, he had Honey Lacuna not just by his side, but as his vice mayor.
He endorsed her mayoral run in 2022 when he ran for president. But politics—as it often does—found a way to drive a wedge between old allies. The last elections pulled them apart. Yet even today, Isko still respectfully calls her “Ate Honey.”
This corner sincerely hopes that time softens the sharp words exchanged during the campaign. Manila has enough battles to fight—dirty streets, rising debt, broken systems—without its former leaders staying stuck in theirs. It’s time for both to begin healing, to start forgiving, and to remember that they both share the same flame in their hearts for public service.
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