Pasig City mayor brushes off disqualification complaint
Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto. — File photo
MANILA, Philippines —Reelectionist Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto brushed off a disqualification complaint against him for alleged vote-buying and violating the Commission on Election’s (Comelec) “ayuda” ban through a smiley emoji and a parody of a famous Tagalog Christmas song.
The accusation came from a former city hall employee, who on Friday claimed that the distribution of lump-sum school allowances to city scholars violated the Comelec’s 10-day ban ahead of the national and local elections.
READ: Vico Sotto says Comelec junked DQ filed vs him by rival’s husband
On Saturday, Sotto posted a screenshot of a media advisory for a press conference regarding his vote-buying case.
He captioned it with a parody of the Tagalog Christmas song “Pasko Na Naman.”
Presscon na naman, o kay tulin ng araw
Presscon nagdaan, tila ba kung kailan lang
Ngayon sa presscon, anong pag-iinitan?
Ang scholarship naman, kahit may exemption ‘yan.
Presscon, presscon, presscon na namang muli
Di nila ma-gets ang ating minimithi
Presscon, presscon, presscon na namang muli
Pero sa dulo… katotohanan pa rin… ang magwawagi…!
Sotto also emphasized that the Comelec had exempted the scholarship program on March 24.
“The regular scholarship program probably shouldn’t be considered as ayuda,” he said in Filipino.
“Let’s start seeing the youth in a better light – the scholars know that this didn’t come from me. In fact, one of the first things we did back in 2019 was to remove the requirements that involved using scholars for political purposes – attendance in parades was no longer required, the program was no longer named after a politician, etc,” he added.
In the press conference that Sotto was reacting to, complainant Vic Barral also presented photos, a video of the aid distribution, and screenshots of social media posts from recipients showing the cash received by the scholars.
Barral’s legal counsel, Ferdinand Topacio, pointed out that only medical and burial assistance were exempted from the ban.
