Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto on Saturday, May 10, responded to a vote-buying complaint against him with a humorous song, clarifying that the recent distribution of the city’s scholarship program, which the complaint claimed violated election rules, was covered by an exemption granted by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

This came after Sotto received a text message informing him about a press conference on Saturday related to the vote-buying allegations, to which he replied, “Grabe, ‘di na nagsawa (They never got tired of holding press conferences).”

He posted a screenshot of the text message and captioned it with:

"Day 44 of 45. Ngitian at kantahan na lang natin sila… (Let’s just smile and sing for them…)

Presscon na naman, o kay tulin ng araw

Presscon nagdaan, tila ba kung kailan lang

Ngayon sa presscon, anong pag-iinitan?

Ang scholarship naman, kahit may exemption 'yan (Another press con—how swiftly days go by

The last one passed, felt like just yesterday

Now at this press con, what will they bring up?

The scholarship again, even if it has an exemption)

Presscon, presscon, presscon na namang muli. Di nila ma-gets ang ating minimithi

Presscon, presscon, presscon na namang muli

Pero sa dulo... katotohanan pa rin... ang magwawagi...! (Press con, press con, here we go again. They still do not get what we are hoping for. Press con, press con, here we go again

But in the end… the truth… will still win).”

The complaint was filed by Victor Barral, who introduced himself as a former City Hall employee, through lawyer Ferdinand Topacio.

The mayor, along with his post, attached a link showing that the city's regular scholarship program was granted exemption by the poll body on March 24, as he emphasized that it should not be considered "aid.”

Sotto also said that people should not underestimate the youth, pointing out that scholars know the assistance did not come from him personally.

He also clarified that one of the first things his administration did in 2019 was to remove requirements that allowed scholars to be used for political purposes, such as mandatory attendance at parades, or having the program named after a politician, among others.

“Ang mga staff naman ng Educ Department, nasanay na kasi sila sa akin na walang politika sa programa, kaya ni hindi na raw nila naisip kung anong sasabihin ng kalaban, kung meron man (The staff of the Education Department have simply gotten used to how we run the program without politics, so it honestly did not cross their minds to think about what others might say—if there are any),” Sotto added.