Vico Sotto: Pasig City to use annual savings for new city hall

MANILA, Philippines — Pasig City saves over P1 billion annually, which could be used for the reconstruction and transformation of its new city hall, according to Mayor Vico Sotto.

The mayor said that if this continues, the city could save over P10 billion in nine years.

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“We’ve saved a huge amount — we’ve saved what used to go to the Standard Operating Procedure, amounting to over P1 billion a year. Our funds keep growing; at P1 billion per year over three terms, we’ve saved more than P9 billion, and it could even reach over P10 billion,” the Pasig City mayor said in Filipino during his State of the City Address on Monday.

“As a matter of fact, building the new city hall won’t affect any of the city’s projects, programs, or activities. Not a single budget category will see a decrease, not even by a peso — everything is going up. Yet, we’ll still be able to construct a state-of-the-art city hall that will last for 100 years,” he added.

Sotto said Pasig residents would finally feel the fruits of their labors and the change they aim to see in the city.

“It’s like building a city hall for free. So let them make false stories about me. Let’s see if anyone will believe them. Here in Pasig, we are now reaping the fruits of our labor. The change we are looking for is here,” he asserted.

Last August, a graft complaint was filed against Sotto by a certain Ethelmart Austria Cruz who identified himself as a private citizen and Pasig resident.

Cruz alleged that Sotto granted a 100-percent tax discount to a telecommunications company based in Pasig City despite supposed inconsistencies in the documents it submitted to city hall.

Sotto responded to the allegation in the same month, noting the “interesting timing” of the graft case against him.

“This is not the first time. Notice the interesting timing of this – at the same time that certain political groups are ramping up their political activities,” he said in a statement.

Sotto, currently serving his second term as Pasig’s local chief executive, recently filed his certificate of candidacy for a third term on October 5.

“It’s important to understand the process that cases go through in the Office of the Ombudsman. It’s easy to have a complaint received and then sensationalize it by bringing the ‘received’ copy to the media,” Sotto also said.

“With this particular complaint, I can’t even comment because I don’t have an official copy,” he added.

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