MANILA, Philippines — Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto on Wednesday asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to state clearly the nature of his violations under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.
“Ano ba yung sinasabi nila (NBI) na ginawa ko, Sabihin muna nila kung ano yung ginawa ko. In fact, dun sa letter… walang sinabi kung ano specifically,” Sotto told reporters in an ambush interview at Pasig City Hall.
(What are my violations? The NBI should tell me the specific violations. In fact, the latter did not state the specific violations.)
Sotto said the NBI only stated “continuous tricycle violations in Pasig,” which the local government already stopped.
“Ano ba namang letter… ang nakasulat lang parenthesis lang e.g. continuous tricycle operations. In the first place hindi totoo yun, nung sinabi nilang tigil pinatigil na namin yun,” the Pasig mayor said.
(What kind of letter is that.. It stated, in parenthesis, example, continuous tricycle operations. In the first place, that is not true, when they ordered us to stop it, we already stopped it.)
Previously, Sotto allowed tricycles to service passengers, especially health workers, to their destinations during the suspension of public transport under the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine, citing that some areas in the city can only be reached through tricycles.
Sotto, later on, complied with national government policies and resorted to other types of vehicles to ferry passengers.
The National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) letter earlier directed Sotto to answer allegations on violation of the government’s quarantine protocols.
With this, Sotto said he would respond to the letter, saying it will not hamper the Pasig government’s efforts to curb the coronavirus disease crisis.
“Naaabala kami, imbis na makapagtrabaho ako nang maayos. Siyempre nagsulat ang NBI, kailangan ko sagutin. It’s extra work, It is extra hassle but it won’t distract us,” Sotto said.
(We were interrupted by the letter. Of course, the NBI sent us a letter so I have to answer that. It’s extra work it is an extra hassle but it won’t distract us.)
“We will focus on the task at hand and right now the task at hand is to defeat this COVID-19. We follow national directives and we act accordingly,” he added.