Mayor Vico slams netizen for 'doctored' evidence on corruption allegation

Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto denied allegations of corruption leveled against him and a city accountant by a netizen who posted what he claimed to be “doctored” Pasig city financial documents on Thursday, Dec. 9.

A certain Anthony L. Torre posted a now deleted image on Facebook on Wednesday, Dec. 8, of city financial records allegedly showing P 33,730,513.32 in unliquidated cash advances tied to city accountant Valerie JO S. Torres dated from September 2019 to November 2021.

“Your little mayor from QC still has a lot of cash advances that are not liquidated. You say she has been removed from office, but actually, you just moved her office sa Pasig City General Hospital (PCGH). Hayzzz naman (so) come out with the truth if you say you are not corrupt, may award ka pa naman. 33 million yan (you’ve even been awarded . That is 33 million),” said Torre in the now deleted post.

Sotto, who received the “International Anticorruption Champions Award” from the United States government in February 2021, responded by posting on Facebook on Thursday, Dec. 9 the same records which depicted only P 576,000 in unliquidated cash advances tied to Torres.

“Inedit ang dokumento, binura ang liquidations, tapos pinost. Sa madaling salita, kasinungalingan (The documents were edited, the liquidations were erased, and then posted. In other words, lies),” said Sotto.

“Wala naman kasing problema sa cash advance basta't last option at mai-liquidate ng maayos. Lalo na sa panahon ng pandemya, may mga bagay na pabigla-biglang nangyayari at mahirap iplano. Iilan lang din naman ang puwede maging Special Disbursing Officer para rito (Cash advances aren’t problematic as long as they are a last option and are liquidated properly. Especially now in the midst of a pandemic, there are things that happen that are unplanned and only a few can become Special Disbursing Officers to handle these cases),” explained Sotto.

Sotto also said that other city hall employees from the previous city administration also had unliquidated cash advances of up to P 100 million in one instance which Sotto said his team helped liquidate properly.

“Pero yung ganitong klaseng kilusan, aba'y ibang usapan na to... Mukhang criminal offense ang nagawang pag-edit ng public records at paggamit nito para mang-akusa ng korapsyon (But these sorts of accusations, they’re a different story... The falsification of public records and using them to make accusations of corruption are a criminal offense),” explained Sotto.