Pasig Mayor-elect Vico Sotto on Monday said leaders should have “fear and love of God” even as he outlined plans for the country’s third-richest city.
An evangelical Christian, Sotto told ANC in a studio interview that it’s “really important for us to have leaders with the fear and love of God.”
“It doesn’t mean that policy-making will be based [on it],” added the 29-year-old erstwhile councilor, who unseated incumbent Mayor Bobby Eusebio, whose family had dominated the city’s politics for 27 years until the May 13 polls.
“My grounding and the fact that I grew up in church with people who are watching me and making sure that I don’t do anything [wrong], I think that’s very important,” said Sotto, in reply to a question on how his administration would run.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, the son of actors Vic Sotto and Coney Reyes also called for unity among Pasiguenos as he advised residents to set aside politicking.
“The people have spoken clearly, and it’s time for us to band together for the betterment of our city,” he said in Filipino.
Sotto reminded his supporters that his term will start on July 1, so it is important that they continue to follow and respect outgoing mayor Eusebio, who has refused to concede despite losing by almost 80,000 votes.
Partial unofficial results from the Commission on Elections’ transparency server showed the city councilor getting 209,370 votes to the 121,556 of the incumbent mayor, who was gunning for a third consecutive and final term.
In the ANC interview, Sotto promised to reduce the city’s infrastructure spending and allocate P2.4 billion to fully implement universal healthcare in Pasig.
The mayor-elect also said he would also do away with the city’s “confusing” traffic scheme and remove the “quota” imposed on Pasig’s traffic enforcers.
He also said he wanted to revitalize the city’s Ortigas business district by curbing corruption, and encourage civil society groups to be more involved with its governance.
Sotto likewise told those who have plans “to disrupt the peace in the city” to think twice before doing so, and assured employees of the local government that as long as they do their jobs well, they will not be affected by the change in administration.
