Even as he already shunned talks about his love life, Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto failed to escape the topic when it was brought up in the Senate.
During their plenary session on Monday, March 1, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri advised the 31-year-old local chief executive not to forget his private life in serving the public.
"However, honest to goodness public service sometimes can be a deep passion to man like us. That we are sometimes too engorssed in it with our devotio to serve the people na minsan nakakalimutan na natin 'yong ating private life (that sometimes we forget our private life)," Zubiri said when the chamber was discussing the resolution that commends Sotto's recognition as one of the United States' international anti-corruption champions.
"Kaya ang payo ko kay Mayor Vico, huwag niyang kalimutan 'yong private life lalong-lalo na ang kanyang love life (That's why my advice to Mayor Vico is that he should not forget his private life, especially his love life). Yes," he added.
Zubiri said he married late because of his work in government.
"O baka gusto niyang i-idolize ang ating pambansang bachalor ng Senado ((Or maybe he wanted to idolize our 'national bachelor' here in the Senate): Senator Sherwin Gatchalian," the Senate leader jested, as the former Valenzuela City mayor is still single.
Gatchalian is currently in a relationship with former beauty queen and actress Bianca Manalo.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III, the mayor's uncle, joined Zubiri, saying: "He's got a long way to go. But I understand there are many applicants."
"Yes, totoo po 'yan (That's true). 'Yan ang nababasa ko po (That's what I have been reading)," Zubiri said.
Sen. Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara, for his part, said that besides the local leaders' many achievements, "Mayor Vico Sotto is also very amiable, very charming, very handsome like our presiding officer (Senate President Sotto)."
In August, 2019, Sotto, who was just elected as Pasig City mayor then, called out reports about his personal life, saying "it is not newsworthy."
"If we want better governance, we should stop treating our government officials like showbiz personalities," he said on Twitter.
Last week, the US State Department hailed Sotto as one of its "Anti-Corruption Champions" for "prioritizing anti-corruption and transparency" in his campaigns and office.
He said he hopes that the recognition will raise awareness and help get rid of corruption in Philippine bureacracy."If we want better long-term governance, we need to fight corruption. We have to denormalize it, get it out of our culture," Sotto said last February 24