The Pasig City local government welcomed on Monday, July 4, its newly elected officials as they vowed to continue the reforms being done to curb corruption and unjust practices in the city government.
During the city government's assembly, Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto thanked the city government staff for understanding his reasons in introducing numerous changes in the city government's practices, most specially in its procurement procedures.
"Alam n’yo naman po magmula 2019, marami ho tayong ginawa na sinasabi nila sa ‘tin noon ay impossible. Mula sa paglilinis ng ating procurement, hanggang sa pag-aayos ng ating 108 na opisina at departamento ng ating lungsod Pasig (As you all know since 2019, we have been doing things that are said to be impossible before. Starting from cleaning our procurement procedures up to the cleansing of the 108 offices and departments in our city of Pasig)," Sotto said.
"Di na po natin iisa-isahin sa umagang ito ang lahat ng ginawa natin pero kayo po alam n’yo ‘yung mga ginawa natin. Marami sa inyo ay na-assign sa mga trabaho na hindi n’yo gusto. ‘Yung iba sa inyo nakiusap na ‘wag n’yo po akong i-assign dyan, ayoko dyan. Pero kinailangan natin itong gawin para paigtingin ang ating mga pagbabago at reporma na nasimulan natin sa nakaraang tatlong taon (I will not go through each of our reforms this morning, but I'm confident that you are all aware of the things we have done. I know some of you begged not to be assigned to the jobs you do not want. However, these changes must be done to strengthen the changes and reforms that we have done in the past three years)," he added.
The mayor then introduced the elected officials of the city government who won in the May 2022 elections which include Vice Mayor Dodot Jaworski, Rep. Roman Romulo, and other city officials.
He then expressed hope that the officials, as well as the public, will continue to support the reforms his administration are doing to stamp out corruption in the city government and provide Pasigueños the service they deserve.
On June 1, two city government employees were arrested by the Philippine National Police (PNP) after receiving bribes in exchange for the issuance of a permit.
Sotto reported that the two suspects were nabbed by the police in an entrapment operation after being caught in the act of taking P600,000 bribe.
“Para daw ito sa “tulong” para lumabas ang isang permit na dati nang sinabi sa business owner na ok na (The bribe is said to be payment for “help” in the release of a permit for a business owner that has been long approved by the city government),” Sotto said.
“In the last three years, we have started to de-normalize corruption and institutionalize good governance in our local government. A tiring and mostly thankless job, but we guarantee that in the next three years, we will push even harder and do even better,” the mayor added.