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Philippines

Mayor Sotto recognized by US State Secretary as 'anti-corruption champion'

Philippines

Mayor Sotto recognized by US State Secretary as 'anti-corruption champion'

By Seth Cabanban

Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto was recognized by United States (US) Secretary of State Anthony Blinken for his contributions towards transparency and anti-corruption during Blinken’s speech in Jakarta, Indonesia on Dec. 15.

Blinken featured Sotto and his leadership of Pasig City in his speech about US relations with the Indo-pacific region and developing transparency and anti-corruption policies in the Indo-pacific.

Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto (KEVIN TRISTAN ESPIRITU/ MANILA BULLETIN)

“We’ll continue to support anti-corruption and transparency groups... we’re finding partners in government too. Like Victor Sotto, he’s the mayor of the city of Pasig in the Philippines,” said Blinken.

Blinken mentioned Pasig City’s transparency and public communication hotline also known as Ugnayan sa Pasig (UsaP) which he recognizes as a way for community-based organizations to participate in city-spending and resource allocation.

"Victor set up a 24-hour hotline for constituents to report cases of corruption, has made the awarding of public contracts more transparent," said Blinken.

He also recalled that Sotto was named an “anti-corruption champion” by the US State Department in February 2021 for toppling a political family and for his achievements towards freedom of information and participatory governance.

“We’ll continue to learn best practices from our fellow democracies,” said Blinken.

Related Tags

vico sotto United States anti-corruption

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