Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto delivers a speech during his first day in office at the Pasig City Hall on July 1, 2019. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/file

MANILA — Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto on Monday said a group has been tapping “disgruntled” former city hall workers to file cases against him and his administration ahead of the 2025 midterm elections.

In less than a month, at least 2 graft cases were filed against Sotto before the Office of the Ombudsman, while a temporary restraining order against Pasig’s New City Hall projects was lodged before a Pasig City regional trial court.

“This is obviously orchestrated kasi hindi naman magkakataon na sabay-sabay yan,” Sotto told ABS-CBN News.

“Parang imposible naman na coincidence siya na sabay-sabay tapos yung mga complainant ay mga disgruntled employees na sa totoo, lahat yan ay may mga kaso sa amin,” he said, without naming any complainant.

The Pasig City government did not renew the contract of one of the complainants due to several lapses in that person’s performance, the mayor said.

“‘Yung isa was not renewed this July because of several memos,” he said.

“‘Yung kapatid niya ‘yung na-entrap namin sa one-stop shop ng City Hall sa Robinson’s Metro East na humihingi at tumanggap ng lagay. Parang fumifixer siya,” he said.

Sotto did not give details about other complainants’ alleged grievances against the city administration, but said that “the facts will speak for itself.”

“So malinaw na malinaw kung ano yung nangyayri: Hinahanap nila ‘yung mga ganitong tao na tinanggal namin o kinasuhan namin tapos yun yung binibigyan nila ng pera ngayon para magfile ng mga kaso in all probability,” he said.

“Ang malinaw lang, there is an orchestrated attempt para manggulo, para manira, para sirain yung reputasyon ng LGU at personally ang reputasyon ko,” he said.

ILLEGAL PROCUREMENT?

The first case in the recent string of charges against Sotto stemmed from the City Administration’s alleged failure to properly bid out P17.2-million worth of commemorative shirts for city hall employees to mark the Pasig’s 451st founding anniversary earlier this year.

According to the complaint, Sotto released an executive order on June 27, 2024 for the grant of a P1,500-budget for every city hall worker to have 2 commemorative shirts, but the Human Resources department announced the following day that the distribution of the said apparel would begin the following day.

“It would have been physically and legally impossible for the purchase of t-shirts to have undergone the proper procurement process,” complainant Michelle Prudencio said in the case she filed before the Ombudsman.

The EO also “explicitly states that cash allowances… and not t-shirts” would be given to city hall workers, according to the complaint filed on July 30, 2024.

Workers were “forced to execute acknowledgement receipts to make it appear that they received their cash allowances,” she said.

The City Administration “will seek the guidance of Commission on Audit” to check if there were irregularities in the procurement, Sotto said.

“Kung may tanong, wala namang problema, sasagutin. Kung may mali, e di aayusin, dapat may accountability,” he said.

“Kung ano naman ang sabihin ng COA, susunod at susunod tayo. Kung sabihin nilang may mali, we will try to rectify. Kung hindi talaga, eh di may mananagot,” he said.

“Kung ako ang mananagot, e di okay lang pero hindi ko nga alam kung ano ang pinag-uusapan natin,” he said, noting that they have yet to receive copies of the complaint.

ABS-CBN News went to Prudencio’s residence in Pasig City to get her side of the story, but a relative said that she is not in town.

TAX PERKS FOR CONVERGE ICT SOLUTIONS?

Another graft complaint filed against Sotto questioned the mayor’s alleged decision to provide a “100 percent discount on penalties” issued against Converge ICT Solutions, a telecommunications service provider in the Philippines.

Converge has been filing taxes for only 5 square meters of office space with 4 employees, when it actually does business in a 9,037.46-square meters property and employs 1,901 workers, according to the complained filed by Etherlmart Cruz before the Ombudsman on August 7, 2024.

Converge owes the Pasig City government some P3.67 million in business tax dues including surcharge and interest, the complaint claimed.

The Office of the City Mayor wrote a letter to Mr. Solomon Joya Jr., head of Converge’s work premises to inform the company that the city government has granted the telco a “100 percent discount on penalties,” the complainant alleged.

ABS-CBN News reached out to Cruz for further comment, but he declined to give an interview, saying he would consult with his legal counsel first.

Converge was among several companies that “questioned several processing fees charged by the city,” Sotto said.

“We found na yung iba tama yung sinasabi nila… yung dating practice na lahat kukuha ng health certificate kahit na non-food,” the mayor said.

“Nireklamo nila, other BPOs also complained at tama sila, tinanggal namin yun,” he said.

“Yung mga ganoon, hindi ko maintindihan bakit biglang, matagal na yan tapos biglang lalagyan ng kung anong kuwento,” he added.

During Converge’s Second Quarter Financial Briefing in mid-August, the telco denied that it “received any tax discount from the City of Pasig.”

“Converge is one of the top taxpayers of Pasig City,” Sotto said.

“As far as I know, everything they do in Pasig is above board. They are good corporate citizens of Pasig kaya hiyang hiya ako sa kanila na nadamay pa sila,” he added.

TRO VS NEW PASIG CITY HALL PROJECT

Last week, a certain Alejandro Sanoy reportedly filed a petition before the Pasig Region Trial court to seek for a temporary restraining order against Sotto’s planned P9.6-billion new city hall project.

ABS-CBN News has yet to see a copy of the case filed before the Pasig RTC.

Last week, Sotto released a statement saying that the “application for TRO and preliminary injunction have been denied by the Regional Trial Court.”

“At this point, I see no reason to comment on the matter any further,” the earlier statement read.

Last week, Sotto met with protesters who were rallying against his administration’s plan to construct a new city hall worth P9.6 billion, but found that those who attended the rally were residents of Quezon City.

The rally was supposedly organized by a group called 'Save Pasig Org,' but when Sotto asked who among them were from Quezon City, most of the protesters raised their hands and shouted, "Woohoo!"

Vico foils rally vs new Pasig City Hall, discovers protesters are from QC

Sotto earlier tagged St. Gerrard Construction (SGC) — a company based in Pasig City — is behind the propaganda against the new city hall project.

When asked in an earlier interview why he suspects the construction firm, Sotto said: “Wala namang ibang gagawa. Sila dapat ang sumagot, hindi ako.”

In a press conference, the constructin firm said it is looking at possible legal actions against Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto after the local chief executive accused the company of bringing Quezon City residents to mount a rally against the new Pasig City Hall project.

Construction firm eyes legal action vs Vico Sotto after Pasig rally

‘ORCHESTRATED POLITICAL ATTACKS’

Sotto said “efforts” are underway to trace those who “orchestrated political attacks” against him and his administration, noting that cases may  eventually be filed against groups peddling fake news and baseless propaganda.

“I don’t know yet what exactly will be filed pero siyempre tinitingnan natin kasi hindi naman tayo puwedeng ganun-ganunin lang lalo na kapag puro kasinungalingan naman yung kinakalat, kailangan may gawin din tayong aksyon,” the mayor said.

“Ongoing yung efforts natin. Ang gusto lang naman natin lumabas ang katotohanan, nothing more, nothing less. We want the truth to come out,” he said.

Several Pasig-based vloggers have admitted to receiving monetary offers from certain groups, the mayor claimed.

“May mga ibang vlogger na nagconfirm sa akin na nag-aalok sa kanila ng pera, yung iba tumatanggap na, even media,” he said.

“Even people from their side, siyempre minsan nakakausap namin, pinagyayabang pa nila na mayroon kaming trolls, hindi ninyo kakayanin ito, ganoon sila e. Tingnan po natin,” he said, without naming specific groups or individuals.

In recent months, Sotto’s camp also noticed a supposed spike in the number of Facebook pages and troll accounts attacking the mayor and the administration.

“Iba-iba yung style. May iba na magpopost muna nang maganda tungkol sa akin tapos after a few weeks, kapag dumami na yung followers, biglang yung kabilang political group na yung pinopost,” Sotto said, without naming which political group he was referring to.

“May iba naman na binili nila yung old Pasig-based groups tapos pinapalitan nila yung pangalan. Makikita naman sa history yun, sa information page. Sinisiraan ako tapos ispino-sponsor yung mga post,” he said.

Sotto admitted it would be difficult to trace which parties or individuals are behind these alleged troll accounts.

“Itong pagbili ng mga pages… Mahirap talagang patunayan but we will do our best para patunayan na naka-link talaga sa kanila yung mga pages na ito. Eventually matre-trace naman natin yan,” he said.

“It’s difficult to give a timeline pero pagsisikapan namin na mapabilis. We are working to collect all the data, all the information because to us it’s very clear,” he said.

Despite a looming crackdown on social media pages criticizing his administration, Sotto underscored that they are still open to points for improvement and feedback.

For one, the city has been trying to resolve bottlenecks in the procurement process, the local chief executive said, when asked about the lack of medicine in some city-run hospitals.

“I admit that sometimes there are really delays in procurement,” Sotto said.

“Ito, problema sa gobyerno yan, hindi lang naman sa Pasig nangyayari yan,” he said.

“I think that one of the reasons that the new law was passed was precisely because government has a lot of delays, even national government agencies all the way to the barangay,” he said.

The city government has also been reviewing all its projects, the mayor said.

“Kahit wala pa kaming natanggap na complaint sa Ombudsman, wala pa kaming copy, kokonsultahin din namin ang COA kung may dapat bang ayusin, may nagawa bang hindi tama,” he said.

“As far as I know wala naman, above-board naman tayo sa lahat.”