Vico Sotto rebuts vice mayor: ‘Did I say anything about his family?’

FILE PHOTO: Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto. INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines — Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto is wondering why Vice Mayor Christian “Iyo” Caruncho Bernardo dragged “family reputation” into their verbal tussle when he never mentioned anything about it.

Sotto issued a short reply to Bernardo, who was quoted to have said that he responded to the mayor’s previous assertions against him to protect the Caruncho name.

“Bakit ‘family’s reputation’.. may sinabi ba ako tungkol sa pamilya niya?” Sotto asked in a tweet, pairing it with a laughing emoji.

(Why is he talking about family reputation. Did I say anything about his family?)

Recently, Sotto and Bernardo have been engaged in a word war after the latter called out the local chief executive for the alleged slow distribution of social aid in Pasig City.

In a speech before city hall employees, Sotto answered back, saying there is no problem about airing grievances against the government but that the official — whom many assumed to be Bernardo — doing it should have first fulfilled his duties as a public servant.

“Walang masama na mamuna, pero pagdating sa mga pormal na proseso bilang mga halal ng bayan, kailangan magtrabaho muna tayo. Anong karapatan natin mamuna, kung ‘yong pormal na tungkulin ay hindi natin nagagampanan?” Sotto said during Monday’s flag-raising ceremony.

In his response, Caruncho said that Sotto is lucky that he became a politician in the age of social media, even alleging that the leadership in Pasig City has become “puro palabas” (all for show) under Sotto.

“Parang pelikula, ako kasama ang buong City Council, ang direktor at cameraman. Hindi mabubuo ang pelikula na wala kami kung saan naman ang aktor ay siyang umaarte lamang para mabigyang buhay ang kwento, pero sila ang sumisikat, pinapalakpakan. Nakakalungkot na ang Pasig, naging isang pelikula na lamang, puro palabas,” the vice mayor said in a video uploaded on a Facebook page called Pasig Dapat Pasigueniyo on Tuesday.

(Just like a movie where I and the entire City Council is the director and the cameraman. The movie will not be complete without us where the actor, meanwhile, is only acting to give life to the story, but they are the ones getting famous, lauded. It’s sad that Pasig has turned into a mere movie, all for show.)

“Kaya ako magsasalita ngayon ay para proteksyunan ang pangalang Caruncho na pilit mong dinudumihan. Noong nakaraang flag ceremony na sadya mong ginamit na lugar upang mangampanya sa pagkakasabi mo na tinext mo ako at nagconfirm sa pagdalo. Ito ang telepono ko, wala pong message or tawag si Mayor Vico Sotto,” said Bernardo.

(My purpose in speaking now is to protect the reputation of the Caruncho family, which you want to tarnish. Your latest flag ceremony was used for campaigning and you texted me confirming my attendance. Here’s my cellphone, I haven’t received any messages or calls from you.)

READ: Vice mayor slams Vico Sotto for turning Pasig into a ‘puro palabas’ city

In 2019, Sotto won as mayor of Pasig City, ending the Eusebio family’s decades-long grip in the city. Bernardo won as vice mayor, running unopposed.

Bernardo comes from one of Pasig City’s more prominent families, the Carunchos, whose patriarch Emiliano Caruncho Jr. was mayor from 1956-1986, according to the local government unit’s website.

KGA