Throughout history, accounts of corruption, unexplained wealth and transparency issues had been a recurring story. From our first official president, General Emilio Aguinaldo up until the present administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. anomalies and scandals pertaining and connected to the “people’s money”, our nation’s wealth and budget, always surface as if such issues are inevitable. In every administration, in every president that we had, there are allegations of corruption from the highest office up until the lowest.
President Aguinaldo’s critics always claimed that he and his men surrendered the revolution and allowed themselves to be exiled in Hongkong in exchange of the money supposedly paid by the Spanish Government during the Pact of Biak na Bato. During the term of President Elpidio Quirino, who will ever forget about his infamous golden arinola which had even been the subject of Senate hearings and inquiry. Needless to state were the millions and millions of pesos purportedly amassed by then President Marcos’ cronies. Our jurisprudence is replete with cases showing that corruption indeed occurred during those times.
The 2000’s also has no shortage of corruption scandals. In 2007, the whole nation witnessed a former President to be convicted of plunder. Just six years thereafter, we were introduced to another controversial personality in another expose which was now part of our history – Janet Lim-Napoles. A businesswoman who was believed to be the orchestrator of perhaps, the largest government scandal, in recent times, the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) Scam or the Pork Barrel Scam. The whole nation uncovered that the so-called pork barrel, a discretionary fund which was intended to finance government projects and programs, was misused and misappropriated. These discretionary funds were purportedly sent to support projects by NGOs which was later on discovered to be bogus or non-existent. Several senators, congressmen and other public officials were implicated in this anomaly.
Recently, news about the list of suspicious and doubtful names of the purported recipients of the Office of the Vice President’s confidential funds were being reported. It was even reported that the aforementioned names did not match any records in the Philippine Statistic Authority.
With all these unfortunate stories of corruption already embedded in our history, Filipinos were left with little or no hope that someday we will have an administration that does not have even the slightest hint of corruption. That someday we will be governed by government officials that are all honest, self-less, transparent and accountable. (I am not saying that there are no honest men in position in our present administration, as I personally know some of them.) But think how great it would be if everyone who held a post is motivated solely by his altruistic motive to serve.
Then came Mayor Vico Sotto. Perhaps, it is indeed very early to conclude that he is the hope this nation has been praying and waiting for. But based on what he has been exhibiting now, based on his sentiments and remarks against corruption or “bulok na sistema sa gobyerno”, there is indeed a great possibility. There is indeed hope.
Mayor Vico Sotto or Victor Ma. Regis “Vico” Nubla Sotto was born on June 17, 1989 to celebrity parents, actress Coney Reyes and Eat Bulaga’s bossing, Vic Sotto. Vico spent his elementary and high school days at Brent International School. Thereafter, he took up Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at Ateneo de Manila University where he graduated in 2011. Then, Vico pursued Master of Public Management in Ateneo School of Government and finished the same in 2018.
He started his political career when he ran for councilor as an independent candidate for the City of Pasig in 2016. He won the said election as the councilor-topnotcher with 85,677 votes which was 16,000 votes away from the number 2 councilor. After serving his term from 2016 to 2019, Vico Sotto immediately aimed for the mayoralty position of Pasig City and was set to face Pasig’s political heavyweight.
Then came, the election day, Vico Sotto was proclaimed as the winner having garnered almost twice the votes as that of his adversary. Mayor Vico’s gap against his 2022 mayoralty election opponent, where Mayor Vico ran for his second term, was even more profound. Mayor Vico won with 335,851 votes while his opponent only have 45,604 votes.
The mayoralty election results in Pasig clearly show that its residents and voters deeply loved Mayor Vico, and whole Philippines knows why.
From his policy and style of not putting his face or anything indicator pertaining to him in any government projects and programs to his stories rejecting millions of offers or the so-called SOPs to favor a person or company. News showing Mayor Vico ordering the stoppage of the construction of a high-rise building due to its supposed failure to obtain the necessary permit to his speeches emphasizing good governance, accountability and honesty in the public service. Because of this kind of leadership and governance, not only did the residents of Pasig love Mayor Vico more, but the entire country also took notice.
This coming election, Mayor Vico seeks reelection for his 3rd and final term as mayor. If he emerged victorious this May, he will just be 39 at the end of his last term, thus, he is still ineligible to run as president of the country. Clearly, Mayor Vico’s fate has yet to unfold and his story is still a long way to go. Let’s just hope and pray that Mayor Vico Sotto is the hope this country needs. More importantly, let us all hope and pray that all our elective officials shall pattern their governance and leadership to this young yet promising leader.