By Noreen Jazul
A “useless political distraction,” was how an official of the Department of Interior and Local Government saw the summoning of Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
DILG undersecretary and spokesman Jonathan Malaya
(DILG / MANILA BULLETIN)
“I think summoning the mayor of Pasig is a useless political distraction at this time when all of us are preparing and cooperating to beat the COVID crisis that we are in right now,” DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya told CNN Philippines in an interview Thursday.
As far as the DILG is concerned, Malaya said Sotto has been “cooperative.”
“At the time, he did allow the tricycles to operate in Pasig, but upon the request of the DILG, he cooperated,” Malaya said.
Malaya added that the “miscommunication” between the DILG and the Pasig City mayor “has been resolved.”
“In fairness to the mayor, when Secretary Eduardo Ano himself made his position on the use of tricycles as mass transport...the mayor agreed, he concurred to the position of the DILG,” he said.
Malaya said the DILG was likewise surprised with the NBI’s move to summon Sotto on the alleged violation of the Bayanihan Act.
“I don’t understand really why the NBI pursued this,” he said.
Read more: NBI probes Vico for alleged violation of quarantine rules