MANILA, Philippines — Manila Mayor and presidential candidate Isko Moreno Domagoso wrapped up his three-day campaign sortie in Northern Luzon with a promise to chip away at the Solid North, which he stopped short of calling an “urban myth.”
Moreno visited the provinces of Quirino, Isabela, Cagayan and Kalinga from Thursday to Saturday.
In a chance interview in Kalinga last weekend, Moreno was asked if he felt he was campaigning in the bailiwick of his rival for president, former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The mayor said the people of Northern Luzon made him feel he was welcome even in provinces where Marcos amassed his biggest number of votes in the 2016 vice presidential race.
“I don’t know if that (Solid North) is an urban myth,” Moreno said in Filipino. “But for me, I am happy that I feel their warm welcome.”
Moreno said he will be glad just to get even a few votes in these provinces.
“We will continue to do so, whether it is in Southern Luzon or Northern Luzon. If there is truth to (the Solid North), I’ll be happy with just a few votes,” he added.
Moreno did receive a lukewarm response from Ilocanos when he visited La Union last Feb. 17.
Speaking before farmers, he promised to revise the Rice Tariffication Law which has been blamed by watch groups for the drop in farmgate prices amid an influx of imported rice and rising prices of fertilizer.
Moreno also promised that social services will be allotted funds from the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s P200-billion estate tax deficiencies, which the surviving kin owes the government.