Mayor Vico Sotto, ipinahayag ang saloobin sa isyu ng korapsyon - PODCAST | Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho

They were hurt that you accused without proof because of the 10 million you mentioned. I'm sorry, I have to ask this question. There are people who say that the age requirement for the presidency should be lowered. Now we talk about the disguise, Mayor Vico.

Why did you only name it 26? Earlier in the house, they said, that's it. It's clear that they have something. It could be on the list that's true. But looking at it all in all, they're hiding something. We need to know how they chose that list out of thousands of jurisdictions,

or out of how many LGUs, out of how many districts. It doesn't make sense. Compare your city hall with a Senate building, which is already 32 billion pesos. Meanwhile, the question is, how was Vico Soto able to do it at 9.6 billion?

So if you compute per square meter, the overpricing in their Senate building is huge.

I just want to add that 9.6 billion is actually good. Usually, when the government has a project, it bloats. For us, it's going down. Now, it's only 9.2 billion.

Would you say, Mayor Vico, that corruption in Pasig is zero?

No, I can't say that it's zero. I can't say that it's zero.

I wish I could say that. Are you for real, Mayor Vico? Is that true? You're at the peak of your political career.

Mayor Vico, thank you very much for this interview.

What can you say about the ongoing investigations of the government's projects? First of all, Ma'am all, thank you for visiting us for this interview All in all, I am happy because Of course, we are not happy because of the bad things that are happening But I am happy in the sense that we are talking about the issues more And it seems like people are more aware of the issues now. That's what's fun, that's what's good.

Even my other friends that I've known for years never talked about politics, never knew about the issues. Now, they share about the flood control project, they share about the ghost, they ask how are you, what's happening. So I think now, people are more aware, people are more awake.

So all in all, I think that's a good thing.

If I'm not mistaken, your group, Mayor Magalong, is the trigger. That's the term that kids use these days. Trigger for all of this. What can you say about that?

I don't know if it can be called a trigger or not. For me, where we are now, let's do our part. Whether you are a student, media personality, government official, we all have our part to play. Whatever a mayor shouts, if there's no one to care, nothing will happen. Whatever the media shouts, whatever the media reports, nothing will be done by other sectors.

We all need to wake up. Your experience here in M4GG, the Mayors for Good Governance, I asked Mayor Magalong about this. When you started, you were all in a state of panic. You were all so small, it was like an alarm. The impression is, why are they all so small? Other mayors who joined for good governance, what are your views on that?

I don't want to think that because they don't want good governance, there's no group that has a monopoly on good governance. This is a concept that anyone can embrace. Maybe there are many factors. One, the group is not yet known. You don't just join a group just because it has a good name.

But personally, I joined because of Mayor Benji Magalong. Yes, there are other people who are also with him. But number one, Mayor Benji Magalong. I saw how he works. I heard a lot of stories about him, even behind the scenes, from friends who are staff there, businessmen in Baguio. So, I felt strongly that I have to work with them because I know that people are really integrated.

Even if the goal is good, if I don't trust my colleagues, I won't join.

But you were just a few at that time.

Yes, at first. For us, this is an advocacy group. What can we do? I think the most important thing that M4GG does is to put a spotlight on certain issues, to talk about certain issues. That's the first thing you need to do, right? If you want to change something, you need to admit first that there's a problem.

If you don't admit that there's a problem, you don't admit that there's corruption, or there's a problem with our processes in the government, how can we expect that it will be fixed? So I think M4GG, that's the number one most important thing that we can do, is to put a spotlight on these issues and our fellow mayors who are members led of course by Mayor Benji, I think they're doing a good job of that and of course I'd like

to contribute also.

Can you tell us how did you start out as mayor here in Pasig? How did you do it? That's a long story. start out as mayor here in Pasig. How did you do it? That's a long story. I know, you've been here for two terms. What was that like for you?

You were young, consul, after three years became mayor, and you were up against a political dynasty, established political dynasty with so much money, and then you're here.

What was that like?

I guess it was a combination of hope, number one, number two, excitement, but also a little bit of fear. Pero we were mission-driven. When it started on June 30 or July 1, 2019, we started immediately, we fought immediately with the procurement syndicate. There were misunderstandings.

Now, fast forward six years later, I can't say it's perfect, but I can say that we have come a long way and we have been successful in our fight against corruption and old ways.

But how did you do it? If you are to, what do you call it, if you were to template what you did, how were you able to navigate through an old bureaucracy?

Of course, in the Philippines, the framework of politics is still patronage. So there are many loyal to the former administration. In chronological order, number one would be leadership by example. Because whatever you do, whatever reform, whatever pronouncement, tell the clerk or the admin aide, don't steal, don't ask for money, don't accept loans,

they know what's up there, that's what they're doing. They know the mayor. They say, the mayor has a billion, we only have 5,000. So I think number one is really leadership by example. People here know that in the mayor's office, a mayor is zero. So, there is a moral ascendancy. That's number one.

But of course, you cannot stop leadership by example. Number two, clear direction setting, clear vision setting, and with accompanying warning. July 2, 6 years ago, first Monday, flag raising ceremony, 7.30 in the morning, after the land was confiscated and other things, I told the employees,

I'm not here to look for mistakes, but whatever the old practices, we all know what happened back then, it should be cut off today. Whatever I see, we should be sorry. If I see that I'm already in charge, I saw a crooked bidding,

I saw a situation, oh no, sorry, they will remove it, they will sue, etc. So, that's number two. And just from the number one and number two, a big change has happened. I think even if we ask other people here, those who have been here for a long time,

they will say, that's it, in procurement, first 100 days, we probably saved more than 100 million already. It's just big. And when I say we saved that much, what I mean is, what were the prices before, if 30 pesos per item, it suddenly dropped to 25 pesos. Because the bidding is real, there's no kickback. So the price of the item suddenly dropped to P25.00 because the bidding was real, there was no kickback.

So the price really dropped. So that's number one, number two. And then number three, institutional reform. The changes cannot remain centered on be what if the mayor is okay now? What if next year? What if in 2028? What if the mayor is different?

What if in 2037, there's a corrupt mayor again? What if that happens? The solution is, of course, there's no 100%, but it's very important

to strengthen the institutions for transparency, for people's participation. So we established a committee in the Pasig office. We capacitated civil society observers for the bidding that we do. We made it normal we opened our books. Even sometimes, it adds to the scrutiny or pressure.

I always think that maybe for me, it is an inconvenience now, today, but if we're thinking about the next 10, 20, 30 years and so on, we need to do this. This is not just for me.

And I can do that because I don't plan to stay in my position. But really, that's a big, big factor. A true leadership of a good government or good governance is not centered on politics or personality. Because they say that the first thing a winning candidate does

is to ensure that he or she will get re-elected.

Yes.

Self-protection.

That's right. If I can give one concrete example,

Yes.

Before I sat, in 2019, of course, I got a call from the barangay, they brought in requests. I was surprised because some requests were like, wallis tambo, map, cleaning the bathroom, band paper.

So I asked, why is it like this? They said it's like that before. If you're close to the mayor, all your requests, if you're going to give it's like that before. If you're close to the mayor, all your requests will be given to the infrastructure. If you're not close to the mayor, just say sorry. What we did was, we instituted a financial aid to barangay from the city. You're not close to me.

Each barangay has 4 million or 6 million depending on the size. You prioritize. If you need a wall, buy a wall. If you need a ballpen, buy a ballpen. If you need supplies, if you need to build your office, buy it there. You will not request from the mayor.

Even if you are an opponent in politics, it's okay.

So there is no strength?

No strength. The fund is already in their hands. They use it for good or bad purposes. They are the accountable. But the point is, they don't have faith in the mayor. It's okay, even if I have a hard time in politics, it's a harder path. It's okay. Why?

Because again, I'm not thinking about re-election. I'm thinking about how can I leave a better system after my term? That our barangay is more efficient, more organized, they are not beholden to the mayor. That's what I'm thinking. So that's one concrete example of what we've done. Hopefully to introduce reforms, strengthen institutions in the city.

So it's possible, because you won the second term, it's possible that without strength, without patronage politics, you don't need to give anything to get stronger in the people.

Credit to the people of Pasig, they saw that the service is good not necessarily, of course they saw me they saw that I work, I'm very visible, I go around everyday that's your advantage yes, exactly, but we have a lot of aspects of traditional politics that are being left behind.

My point, my philosophy is to prove that we can do it. If we're proven wrong, if we lose, if it becomes harder in politics, it's okay. Because, I mean, why am I here? If I'm here and I'll just do what the previous ones did to me, why did I run? Why did I join politics? I'm okay with that. There's no quiet life.

I mean, the first 26 years of my life, you never heard about me or you rarely heard about me. So, I'm okay with that kind of life. But I have to say, I'm very thankful to all of the people who really embraced the vision. Because no matter how good a person is, how good a person is, how honest a person is, if it's just one person, the system will eat them up. Or nothing, nothing will happen.

But here in Pasig, the support of the people was really overwhelming. From the ordinary people to the department heads, the core staff, everyone. It was really a team effort. I told them, thank you, you're allowing me to be the head, the face of the changes that are being made. But to be honest, I can't do it, not because of them.

And this is a product of years of hard work. Not just what I'm saying, but the whole thing. Years of hard work, years of people fighting corruption here in Pasig. Then it culminated in 2019 when I entered and ran for mayor. So I reap the benefits of the hard work of a lot of other people.

I don't want to praise you, but Mayor, all this shows that clean politics is possible in the Philippines.

That's our mission. That's our goal. That's what we always remind each other. That we are here not only to work, but to show people that this style is possible.

So, because we are talking about corruption and corruption in the government, although you're saying it's not right that it's just you. But from what I see from your example, it really starts at the top, right? Who is leading? Because they say, do we have hope that our politics will be clean and straight? When the corruption in our society is systemic, it's probably even cultural, it's part of who we are.

But you're saying it all starts from who is at the top, who is the leader, that's what dictates. Is that right?

Political science, I graduated, we always talk about the Bibingka strategy. When you cook Bibingka, there are two stoves. There's one on top, but it's okay, you also need it on the bottom. And maybe in introducing changes to our country, that's also what we need. You need champions of good governance, honest governance from the top,

but you also need people at the bottom who will push us, who will support us. It can't be just one or the other, we need both. And that's what I said earlier that's funny because this is what we're feeling now, that people are more awake, they are more aware of the issues. So I think for those of us with the platform, the burden is on us to keep talking about it, keep sharing what we know, and really just helping to push everything forward. Because this is it. This is the opportunity.

This doesn't come every year, doesn't even come every 10 years maybe. Everyone is watching, everyone is really concerned, everyone wants us to get tired of the old ways and corruption. It's too much. We know it before, but it's like... And that's exactly also the point. When I say it has to be from the top and the bottom,

there are other government officials who are fine but they don't care about the people. That's what we see now, that people care more about the people. and people are concerned. But many are feeling down.

They say, Oh no, nothing will happen there. We have seen that before. No one was imprisoned, no one was charged. What is your reaction to that?

What can you say?

I believe that when we zoom out, and look at the history and the trajectory of the Philippines, our situation is getting better. When we zoom in too much, it's frustrating. Day to day, even for me, I'd say we've achieved a lot here. I'm frustrated too.

Sometimes, there are problems that are still our problems. It's like we're repeating it. I'm just saying it at a local level. What more, the big problems like those ghost projects, it's really frustrating. There are certain things like those ghost projects, it's really frustrating. There are certain things, like those ghost projects,

that really make you angry. But if we really want to graduate from those problems, we should monitor them, we should know, as ordinary citizens, we should also admit to ourselves, we should accept that it's not just the politicians or government officials who are at fault.

To some extent, even if you didn't steal, even if you didn't get caught, each of us has a little fault in this. Either we don't know, we don't care, or we let the culture of corruption. We gave to the traffic enforcer when we were stopped, instead of just paying the ticket. And your savings are big, is that true? Yes, but now we're at the point that we're trying to increase our absorptive or spending capacity. Because the budget is growing, the spending should be more efficient so that more people can receive benefits and services.

Savings are not a victory. Victory is because you have savings from the corruption you were going through. Now, the challenge is what will you do with that savings? How will you spend that savings? Would you say, Mayor Vico, that corruption's zero. I can say that it's zero for me. As a person, I can say that it's zero. In reality, you can't say that it's zero for any office or any agency.

But I can say that we were able to get 99% of the work done. And I think that's more than anyone expected at the start. Of course, we're always aiming for 100% success. But then we'll always... Until there's a little bit more, sometimes we still get caught.

In the last several months, last year, there were a few who got trapped. So it's just continuous. The fight is continuous. The fight in life doesn't end.

In your opinion, why should we pay attention to the removal of corruption in the Philippines? Is the premise that there is corruption already? Yes. Why should it's like the premise is that there's corruption already.

Yes.

Actually, why does it have to be like that?

Actually, Ma'am Jessica, that's where I'm going before your helicopter arrives.

That's not a helicopter.

Before the helicopter arrives. Yes, maybe there are a lot of... or sometimes the biggest highlight is the Ghost Project, 90 million, 200 million. Of course, that's natural, you'll earn first. But what we need to realize is that it's systemic. And it's not just systemic in the government, but it's also in our culture.

You know, you're driving, you're blocked by a traffic enforcer, the first thing you think of is to just reach. Same person, same driver, same moral compass, bring it to Singapore, he will be strong enough to reach the traffic, he won't think of that.

So, what's the difference? Same person suddenly becomes kind when he's in Singapore? No, because there, he's not accepted. There, if you do that, you're sure to be jailed. Here, we accept it. We don't get angry when we see corruption, especially if it's small.

It's okay, it's just like that. It shouldn't be like that. If we really want to change our country, if we want to level up as a country, even if it's small, we should treat it as an angry, it makes you angry. That's the only solution. And we'll get there, little by little.

We can't change it overnight, but we have to try.

To be honest, can you envision a future where you go out on the street and you see something, Hey, the street is beautiful, there's nothing to see there. You see the traffic light, there's nothing to see there. The solar light, there saw the points out by Mayor Magalong that cuts ice and railings and rock netting. If you see that, because now I think, all these things we see including the asphalt, we might reach the point where there is no such thing?

I believe that yes, we will reach that point. It will not be easy. It will not be quick. But if more of us, rather than less of us, continue to push the system, push the boundaries of what can be done, of what is normal, to denormalize corruption, normalize practices of transparency for instance, we can reach that. We have a project now that

when I was in my first term, I didn't want to do it. This is the redevelopment of City Hall and the construction of a new City Hall. We have structural issues with our old City Hall and the construction of a new City Hall. Our old City Hall has structural issues, that's why we're here in the temporary facility.

Structural means

it's dangerous? We've already demolished it. But when we were there, it suddenly started moving. There was an instance in 2019, suddenly, something exploded, I don't know what it was, the whole 8th floor jolted.

So, it's a bit dangerous. Now, we're talking to our engineers, the proposal to me, they have a lot of proposals, option A, option B, option C. When I see the price,

I can't admit it. I'm nervous. Because I know that if there's a billion project, I might not be able to control my people, maybe someone will ask on my behalf, or maybe I can't do it properly. That's the reputation of the government.

The reputation of the government, either someone stole from there, someone earned from there that shouldn't be there, or it's substandard. When we see a government project, we always think of two things. It's automatic. How much? Oh, someone kicked back. Maybe because most of the time, it's true. We can't blame people because most of the time, it's true. In Pasig, your city hall, can you tell me that there was no kickback or no one was robbed?

Yes. Originally, the project was 9.6 billion. The new city hall building, the floor area is also big, 46,000 square meters. So it's a big project. All of our needs, all of the weaknesses of the past. But for me, of course, the first thing is the need for the service. Government center, even cultural center to some extent.

Open space that's new, big, for the kids, seniors. So that's really the first, along with the structural problems of the old. It's really time. But when I think about it, we talked about it with the team. I said, at first, I was afraid to do a big project. Because, will we really be able to do it well?

That's the question. And if we do a good job, we might still make a story. You might get suspicious. You saw that in the last elections.

They used that on you.

What stories? Sometimes, you just get confused. You just think about it. You make a story that's worth 9 billion or 1 billion. Even if there's no basis, you can still make a story. So at first, I said, I don't want to make a project like this.

But when I studied, when the proposals were more concrete, I thought, if those who are decent and honest don't want to do a good project because they are afraid, what will happen to us? The corrupt will continue to do it. I mean, sorry to put it so bluntly, but it's like that. So, yes, we need it for better services of the city,

but let's take advantage of the opportunity. opportunity to do it two-in-one. A good project for a better service, but number two, let's also do this example, let's also do this model that the government can make a project that is this big, this ambitious, but it's good, without corruption, and up to quality.

The quality is right. So that's when I got excited about the project. I started out with anxiety, or fear that I would be able to make a story. But when I did it, I was like, this is it, let's show it.

Did you read Bucciangco's column on that? No. He compared your city hall with a Senate building, which is already 32 billion pesos. Meanwhile, his question was, how was Vico Soto able to do it at 9.6 billion compared to the Senate that's 32 billion and going? So if you compute per square meter, the overpriced of them in the Senate building is huge. You didn't read that column?

I didn't read it. Sometimes I don't read it anymore, I just read the headlines. I don't want to compare it to others. I'm just focused on what we're doing. But what I can say is that the 9.6 billion is actually good. Usually, when the government has a project, it's a bit of a blur. There's something that needs to be done, there for a change, there's a variation, whatever.

For us, it's still going down. Now, it's only 9.2 billion.

Really? Wow.

Now, we talk about the disquiet, Mayor Vico.

It's everyone's favorite topic.

We've heard your reaction to the promises they made to the Senate yesterday and today in Congress. How is it? You said that you don't believe them because they said that their income is only 2.2 to 3 percent.

Earlier, the statement changed. They said that their income in the project reached 10 to 15 percent. The statement was right, they were able to reach 10-15% of their project's revenue. I was just at home earlier, in the tri-com, and suddenly it was different again. But the revenue there is really unbelievable. Because the stories are different. And that's what I'm a bit afraid of now. That maybe, along with the game plan to confuse us.

Like, we're being told this, or we're being lied to, but in reality, there's an ulterior motive. Maybe later, we'll be hook, line, and sinker. We'll accept everything they're saying. And that's the endgame. After a few months, no evidence can be produced.

Nothing will happen to the cases. That's what I'm afraid of now. I'm fairly confident that it won't happen. I've seen even our national government agencies really pushing for justice. I've seen it with my own eyes. Active from Secretary Vins, DPWH. I've seen how they're working now to bring accountability to answer the needs of the people.

I saw that. But with that said, I still think that we should be careful if we see something on the news or social media, now trolls are activating other groups. I don't know where they are from but I see that there is a slight rise.

I'm interested in your experience with the diskayas. Aside from the inconsistency in declaring their profit, before they ran, what was your experience with them? online, you're saying that they have a lot of violations, they have tax deficiencies. What are the issues raised against them from your city hall?

You've already said that, Gis. I don't want to keep that they are always my topic. It's not good. Especially that they are not the only ones we should look at. We need to look at DPWH. We need to look at other contractors.

We need to know who are the politicians involved here? Who are the congressmen? Who are the senators? Or governors, mayors? I don't know. Now, it's not clear. If someone says something, there's no evidence. It can't be like that. Of course, it's difficult.

I don't have an investigation arm here in the LGUU but we try to do our part. We see red flags even with financial transactions taxes. We forward it to the correct national government agencies. I know that other agencies are also moving forward but that's really what we have to look out for right now. But what was your experience that you were able to face in the last election?

It was okay.

Did you expect that this Kaya will run against you, a contractor? Or was it something totally unexpected? We can see the trend nationwide that the contractors are also trying to be in politics. The number of contractors is increasing. In the last three or four election cycles, we've really seen this. Yes, here in Pasig, a little. But it was a build-up when taxes were imposed on the building. We heard something. Maybe they respect you, the run of Diskaya because you were after their taxes, their unpaid taxes, and the violations in their buildings. They are the only ones who know the truth.

Of course, I have my own theory, but it's not like we're discussing something that's just a guess. That's it. It's over. That the questions here, not just about the ghost projects, but also corruption in general. It's becoming clearer that this is a syndicate. What we're talking about here is not just one contractor, not just 15 contractors, it's a conspiracy. There's a politician, there's a DPWH, there's a contractor. This is it.

One of the things we're tracing now, at least with the transactions that in Pasig or nearby, we can see that there is a clear pattern of fraud, clear pattern of manipulation, even with looking at the nine companies of the Diskayas. But I'm sure this is true also with the other contractors. We looked at their contracts nationwide. It is very clear that some of them are just borrowing. They are using their papers for a fee, of course.

Again, it doesn't mean that they are innocent. They are still included here. Or maybe they are the ones who are collecting. Again, they are the only ones who are aware. But we need to get to the bottom of it. We have other pieces of evidence that we are looking at. But I guess it would be premature to disclose right now.

But in the coming maybe one to two weeks, we will show you.

Mayor, you are an ally of Congressman Roman Romulo, right? He was mentioned in the hearings.

Of the disquiet.

Of the disquiet. What was your reaction to that?

For me, it's hard to speak because whatever I say, people will just say, no, because he's your friend. Maybe you're just say that it's your friend's you might be covering it up because it's your friend's but what I'm saying is, look closely at the context of what this guy is saying because we already know, we saw it during the campaign period until now how they lied.

It's like this, they have hundreds, if not thousands, of contracts in government. DPWH, they also have contracts with LGUs. They said in the Senate hearing, to quote, we can't do anything.

They said that the SOP will forcefully give. But out of thousands of projects, they named 26 individuals. So, from that, you can see that there's something wrong. You're saying, you have no choice but to give. Why did you only give 26?

And earlier in the house, they said, that's it, that's all. It's clear that they have something, it could be on the list that's true. But looking at it all in all, they're hiding something.

We need to know what it is. Why is it like that? How did they choose that list? Out of thousands of jurisdictions, or out of how many LGUs, out of how many districts?

It doesn't make sense. As someone relatively new in politics, when you hear these this coming out now, who have received billions of bribes here in public works, I mean infrastructure, how does that make you feel?

Don't you feel weak inside as a young gun in politics, in Philippine politics?

Maybe at first, I was a bit weak inside. But at this point, I just thought that I will do what I can do. I can't change the whole system. But what is my sphere of influence, what is the power that I have in the LGU as a mayor, I will use it for the right thing. I will use it to fight a small difference for good. It's important that we don't go backwards.

But you know, as you mentioned...

Where is that coming from? The optimism? Where is that coming from? Given what you've seen that went wrong in the government, what you've swallowed that went bad in the government, what you have swallowed that is more disgusting, what you had to go up against,

you were even fought by a rich, very rich person, why are you still optimistic? I don't know. But you know, I remember when I was in the house, I showed my pictures of money. Even in the pictures were already on Facebook. If it's like this, one million, two, it's already three hundred million. I remember, it's like I flashbacked, when I was not yet a mayor, I started in politics until I became a councilor. That was one of the topics I was always interested in, the SOP,

the automatic kickback to politicians and government officials. Especially when I go to schools, youth gatherings, I always tell them that what we hear, the SOP, at that time, I always heard 20%, now it seems like it has increased. They have inflation.

But now, it's at 20%. So, think about it. The budget of PASIG is 5 billion. It's going through the procurement. 5 billion is the amount of construction. If it's 20%, that means it's 1 billion per year.

So, every year, we're spending 1 billion pesos. If that 20% is true, that's how big the construction is. At that time, most of my friends didn't believe me. Either they laugh or when I comes to question and answer, they ask, Is it really that big? Maybe it's an exaggeration, they always tell me.

Because think about it, it's just one LGU. It's possible that the SOP or kickback will reach more than 1 billion. What about when you total everything, even including national aid? I mean, that's what you hear, 20%. Now, the good thing here is that people can see that this is real. The pictures are real.

There are leaked pictures. Thank God, these things are out. So now, people can see more. We will go back to our first point, that people are more aware, they are more vocal. Maybe not necessarily that they're on the streets rallying, although there are, but compared to where we were yesterday, I think we're in a much better position now.

And that's my answer to your question, why am I optimistic? I'm not optimistic because of the theory. I'm not optimistic because I just thought of something good. I'm optimistic because of what I see. And what I see is good. What we're going for is good.

I'm sorry, I have to ask this question. There are people who are saying to lower the age requirement for the presidency. It seems like you are the one they want to push.

They can lower it. They can find another candidate. Why not you?

It's for you. That's what they are thinking. Lower the qualifying age. Maybe that's just what other people are saying. That's what they're thinking. They're saying to lower the qualifying age.

Maybe that's just what other people are saying. We don't know if that's true. Nobody's talking to me. If I'm the only one who said that in 2028, I'll take a break from politics, I won't run anymore. I don't know exactly what I'll do. I want to teach. I want to study.

Maybe there are other opportunities in government, maybe civil society. So that's really the plan.

I would say, are you for real, Mayor Vico? Is that true? You're at the peak of your political career, and they're looking at you and saying, this is possible, they should be the ones. Then you suddenly say, don't run anymore. It's like a damper.

No, because people don't like traditional politicians. If I'm going to make politics my life, I need to run, I need to think, I need to get higher and higher positions. If I become like that, I'm sure after three years, people will also not like me anymore. It means, even I don't like myself if I'm just like that. If I become traditional, that's not the reason why others like me.

So I have to be true to myself. That's number one. And honestly, first of all, you don't have to be an elected official to have an impact or to help. So you're not looking at that path towards bigger things for you. Bigger things doesn't always necessarily mean having to run in the elections. So I just want to do my part.

Of course, I have to think of myself also. I'll run in 2028 but I'll burn out. It's not easy what do it every day. It's a disservice to people. I know myself. I know how far I can go.

I know my limitations. I'd like to think that I'm a pretty self-aware person. I think this is the right decision.

Spoken like a non-politician. Sorry, but I also have to ask. They were hurt that you were accused without proof because of the 10 million you mentioned.

I don't want to repeat the same issue. I have said what I want to say. I stand by what I said. They know the truth. They know who even contacted my mom to give the information. So I believe that it's important that we talk about these issues as well.

I said earlier that my example is corruption. We're all part of the culture of corruption here. Even the driver, the enforcer, it's not just the politicians who are guilty here. This is an ecosystem. This is a cycle. There are good people in media, there are good people in government,

there are good people in each sector. But if we don't recognize that there are gray areas or even corruption, nothing will happen. Nothing will happen if we all just blabber. So like I said, with regard to that specific issue, in my post, I think I was very clear that I'm not accusing anyone of doing anything illegal, but I'm calling them out for engaging in these houses being bombed by the Diskaya. But on Saturday, there was a big rally.

People were already angry. They were also bombing the DPWH, the law. What do you want to comment on that? First of all, I commend people who care enough to demonstrate, to attend a rally, to make their voices heard. Let's not think that it in a peaceful way, not to go to violence.

Because they are the ones who will be hurt, not the rich and poor. At the end of the day, these contractors are inside. Maybe they are not inside, maybe they are in another house, in the air-con, they are okay. If they get sick. If they get sick, the realists will be the ones who will get hurt, not the corrupt. That's all I have their interest in mind.

We don't want to reach the point of hurting anyone. That's all. But if they want to, actually here in Pasig, those who are rallying even without a permit, technically, they can disperse it. But maximum tolerance.

What I always remind our police, there is no command of the mayor to the police, right? We just have supervisory power. What I always remind them is, as much as possible, don't move, let them be. They want to hear their voices, they have the right to do so even if they don't have a permit, let them. But of course, they will come and assist. If there's a problem, they should be ready.

So, go to them, just be on the side. If it's out of hand or you're about to go there, just a little reminder, don't move. Just let them. Mayor, one last thing. Maybe you want to say something to the viewers and followers. To my fellow Pasiguenos and to all the viewers, I hope we continue to help and support a Philippines where we will be able to govern it well. I know we are tired of the old ways, we don't want to hear about corruption anymore. But if one or two people will move, nothing will happen. We all need to do it. lahat po tayo. Let's all do what we can in our own ways, in our own capacities, and hopefully before we know it, we're in a better Philippines.

Thank you, Mayor Vico. Thank you for the hope. Thank you, Mayor Vico. Thank you for the hope.

Thank you. Salamat po.