Isko Moreno: The Boy Who Rose From The Garbage Bin

“Yorme, the Life Story of Isko Moreno,” hit the book stores in June 2021, right in the middle of the year. It was written by Yvette Fernandez and illustrated by Rey Sunga. It came from the imprint of Summit Publishing.

These credentials need to be spelled out, so that one would know this is a professional job. Fernandez has been writing a series of inspirational books for children under the Dream Big Books, and a good example of that, of course, would be the Cinderella-like story of the present mayor of Manila.

He is the 27th mayor of the capital city, and at 44, was the youngest elected mayor. The book is told from the memories of the mayor, and Fernandez justly captures the tone of voice, the sense of wonder at how life turned out to be, in a deft mixture of English and Filipino.

“But I did not always have this opportunity. Many years ago, I only had dreams. My first big dream was my mother’s dream for me – to finish high school. She believed education was the way out of poverty. I still believe that,” Isko recalled.

His second dream was to be a ship captain. Many of his neighbors boarded ships and became overseas Filipino workers. They sent home remittances that sent children to school, healed old and sick parents, renovated a crumbling house. But he did not want to be just any other seafarer; he wanted to be “the captain, the boss. I believed I should aim for the moon, so even if I failed, I would still land among the stars.”

As a young boy, he saw how his father worked hard in the dockyards of Tondo, carrying heavy cargo. But after a hard day at work, the money he brought home could hardly feed his family of four. “Many times we went to bed still hungry. Natutulog nang gutom.”

I think this is where his instinct for action started. He was only 10 years old, yet he “went out to the streets to sort through trans bags for leftover food other people had thrown away. The best trash bags were the big black trash bags from a local fast-food chain. There were always food scraps customers had left on their trays: half-eaten buns, chicken bones with a bit of meat, sweet spaghetti, and leftover rice.” 

He brought the food home and his mother washed them several times, then fried them. This food is called “batsoy,” also known as “pagpag,” or “shake” because when the food is plucked from the garbage it needs to be shaken to remove the dirt attached to it. The food didn’t taste great, as you can imagine, but “it kept our stomachs form rumbling at night. Natutulog kami nang busog.”

If there were extra morsels of food, they sold it to the neighbors to add to their measly income. His classmates bullied him for being a garbage boy. They even called him ironically, “mayor,” since the mayor at that time had said that there was money in the garbage. But the young Isko just let it all slide down like water down his back. He later gathered old newspapers, cardboard boxes, glass bottles, and sold them as well.

The money helped him to buy his school supplies. It also gave him a few extra pesos to buy what we usually take for granted in our youth: bubble gum, cherry balls, and soft drinks. His father only reached Grade 4 and encouraged him to study hard, which he did.  In high school, he drove a pedicab, and suffered so when the passenger was twice or even thrice his weight, but he soldiered on.

One night, he attended the wake of a well-off neighbor. He knew that if he attended it and said the prayers, he would later eat a good meal. He did, and he also met Wowie Roxas, a talent manager, who invited him to join showbiz.

He started in bit roles, arriving at the movie set at 9 a.m. and waiting for his shooting at 5 p.m. The roles got bigger, and later he found himself in “That’s Entertainment,” the long-running show of the late German “Kuya Germs” Moreno. But he never really became a big star. 

He muses: “That is life. Even if you work very hard, you don’t always succeed. Sometimes, you fall. And fail again. But what matters is that every time you fail, you pick yourself up. Again and again. You never give up.”

In 1998, he decided to pay it forward and ran for city councilor of Manila. “I went from house to house explaining my plans and dreams for the city. And I won.” He worked very hard because people looked down on him, a councilor without a college degree, more so a knowledge of the law. That was when he decided to go back to school.

“I wanted to prove that hindi ako bobo. I took courses at the University of the Philippines in local legislation and finance. Then I went to get my college degree, while still working with the city council full-time. It wasn’t easy and I didn’t get much sleep during those years. But I still loved learning, so I finished all my requirements, no matter how difficult they were.”

He finally graduated from college at the age of 30. His mother sobbed with joy during his graduation ceremonies. After three terms as city councilor, he ran for vice mayor and again, won. He focused on recycling and decongesting Manila’s notorious traffic jams. One of his programs was “Botika ni Isko,” which gave free medicines to the poor.

“I never stopped learning. I took more classes at U.P. and finished two years of law school at Arellano University. I was also lucky to complete courses at excellent universities abroad, including Oxford and Harvard.”

He later ran for senator and lost. He was disappointed, naturally, but this survivor instinct, honed by his growing up years in the slums of Tondo, kicked in again. He was appointed to work at the North Luzon Railways Corporation and later, at the Department of Social Welfare and Development. He finally ran for mayor of Manila against two older and established opponents – and won by a large margin.

He cleaned up the streets of Manila, improved peace and order, made sure that traffic moved by removing road obstructions. Corrupt officials were fired and programs set up for school children and other students, and senior citizens. He lighted up parks and bridges, and beautified an old and decaying city. And then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

With full strides he set up drive-thru, walk-in, and mobile testing facilities. Patients were isolated in quarantine centers all over the city. There was free swab testing, and alter vaccination with the residents of Manila now fully vaccinated. He did it for the “Batang Maynila”like him.

Today, Sept. 22, the mayor of Manila will declare his intention to run as president of the Philippines. This book for children is unconventional, since children do not vote. Previous candidates before him did full-length biographies, films, or “Maalaala Mo Kaya” TV show. But like the late senator and Aksyon Demokratiko founder Senator Raul Roco, who also ran for president, he knows that children are potent communicators. What they read they talk about, tell their siblings, parents and relatives, relay to neighbors. Moreover, children are naturally filled with curiosity and wonder.

And the story of the boy who picked up garbage scraps is the stuff that dreams are made of.

About the author

Danton Remoto’s latest book, Riverrun: A Novel, was published by Penguin Random House to critical acclaim. He teaches English, Literature and Creative Writing at Ateneo de Manila University, Far Eastern University, and San Beda University.