Presidential aspirant and Manila mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said he was ready to become the next leader of the country with his proven experience in public service.

“I’ve been working in the government for 23 years. Half of my life was dedicated to public service,” Domagoso said during Jessica Soho’s The Presidential Interviews aired on Saturday, Jan. 22.

While he admited that he was not able to study due to poverty, Domagoso believes that he was nevertheless able to atone for these shortcomings in life.

“Ikot ako ng ikot sa buong Pilipinas (I go all over the Philippines) to know the real situation of our people. What happened in Manila is scalable. So may prototype na with regard to housing, education, and health care and jobs,” he said.

Domagoso also assured Manila had not been neglected during his provincial "Listening Tour."

He had earlier said that he still had no plans of resuming his “Listening Tour” as he was focused on responding to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) surge that is being driven by the Omicron variant.

"Nitong dumating ang omicron. hinayaan ko yung politika, pinamigay ko nalang sa kanila, nag focus kami on how to save lives as many as possible, as soon as possible (When the omicron came. I let go of politics, I just gave it to them, we focused on how to save as many lives as possible, as soon as possible),” he said.

“Kung makikita ninyo ang Manila ang takbuhan ng gamot, bakuna, at mga testing kits. We’ve been preparing for this. Gusto natin ahead (If you can see, Manila has been the recourse for medicines, vaccines, and testing kits. We’ve been preparing for this. We want to be ahead),” the Manila mayor added.

Domagoso earlier said he joined the presidential race to offer what he has done in Manila because these could also be accomplished duplicable throughout the country, especially his team's approach in handling the COVID-19 pandemic.