Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto wants the public to stop treating government officials as celebrities

August 26, 2019 - 4:10 PM
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vico_sotto on girlfriend remark
Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto urged people to take local government officials seriously. (Artwork by Uela Altar-Badayos)

Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto schooled people who made a big deal for his remark on being single, which previously made headlines.

Sotto clarified on Twitter that he was just making light of the TV interview “Bawal ang Pasaway” when he said that he’s “accepting applicants” to be his potential girlfriend.

“I made this joke during an interview to change the topic. It is definitely not newsworthy. If I knew it would get this much attention i just wouldn’t have answered,” he said.

The neophyte mayor also attached screenshots of parts of the mainstream media that reported this.

He then called for people to take government officials seriously.

“If we want better governance, we should stop treating our government officials like showbiz personalities,” Sotto said.

The remark was his response to the inquiry of veteran reporter-host Winnie Monsod on how many girlfriends he had during the episode of the GMA TV show on August 21, 2019.

His exact response was: “Wala ho. Masyadong naging busy, lalo na po ngayon. Busy sa trabaho.”

He then stressed in jest that the women he encountered on a regular basis are older than him.

When prodded further, the local mayor quipped that he’s accepting “applicants,” sending him and Monsod to laughter.

He also denied that the separation of his parents Vic Sotto and Connie Reyes discouraged him from entering a romantic relationship.

“Hindi ko lang naplano. Lalo na ngayon, last thing on my mind ika nga. Talagang focus muna sa trabaho,” Sotto said.

If ever, he shared that his ideal girl would be: “More than matalino, gusto ka sana same wavelength kami lalo na sa topic ng governance.”

Sotto said that he hoped to meet this girl and get married before he reached 40 years old. He’s currently 30 years old.

When this statement became a hot topic online, a certain Hettianne Gamel shared a photo of her “resume” to be Sotto’s girlfriend on August 24. She even tagged Sotto’s Facebook handle.

It gathered more than 47,000 likes and got made rounds more than 21,000 times.

Mayor Vico Sotto ready na po resume ko, kayo po ba ready na po ba kayong tanggapin ako

Posted by Hettianne Gamel on Saturday, August 24, 2019

Local mayor in the news

Sotto had been the subject of one headline after another since he ended the 27-year mayorship of Bobby Eusebio and his family during the previous midterm elections last May.

He also implemented several local policies during his first month on the job and shared them on his public accounts on Twitter and Facebook.

These include the removal of tarpaulins and posters in public places with his face and name, the confusing odd-even traffic scheme and creating a traffic management group for the roads in Pasig.

He previously revealed that the new traffic policies of the Metro Manila Development Authority or MMDA along EDSA made finding traffic solutions in his jurisdiction more challenging.

Earlier this August, the MMDA reinforced the yellow bus lane policy and made a dry run of the provincial bus ban supposedly to reduce traffic congestion along the main thoroughfare.

These, however, caused more inconvenience to the commuters and the motorists instead.