Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto briefly explained on Sunday, Sept. 7, how the city government allocates financial aid to its barangays -- an initiative aligned with his administration's mandate to uplift the lives of Pasigueños and advance his anti-corruption campaign.

According to him, the local government annually distributes financial aid to the city's barangays amounting to P4 million for "small" barangays and P6 million for "big" barangays. This is aside from their regular budget from National Tax Allotment (NTA) and Real Property Tax (RPT) shares.

"Nung una akong naging mayor nung 2019, nagulat ako sa mga request ng ibang barangay. Lalo na 'yung ibang maliliit lang ang budget, pati walis at bond paper kasama sa request (When I first became mayor in 2019, I was surprised with the requests of some of our barangays, especially those with small budgets. They are even requesting for brooms and bond paper)," Sotto said.

"Meron naman talagang financial assistance batay sa Local Government Code (Sec 324), pero naka-lagay lang na minimum P1,000... Naisip namin na lakihan ito (There is indeed financial assistance based on the Local Government Code (Sec 324), but it only has a minimum of P1,000. Hence, we decided to increase it)," he added.

The mayor explained that better efficiency in the delivery of services is one of the main reasons for increasing the allocated financial assistance for barangays.

"The 'lower' the level of government, the faster it can deliver. Ngayon, pag may kailangang ipaayos o maliit na infrastructure, mas kaya na ito ng barangay; hindi na kailangang hintayin ang city o national. Pondo rin naman natin ito, pero napapabilis ang proseso (The 'lower' the level of government, the faster it can deliver. Now, if there is a need for repairs or small infrastructure, the barangay can do it; there is no need to wait for the city or national government. This is also our fund, but the process is accelerated)," Sotto noted.

"Second, we are moving away from 'Patronage Politics.' Ayaw na natin sa sistema kung saan pag malakas ka kay mayor ay mas marami kang matatanggap, pero pag kalaban ka nganga. Sa sistemang ito, pantay-pantay ang mga barangay (Second, we are moving away from 'Patronage Politics.' We no longer want a system where if you are close to the mayor, you will receive more, but if you are an opponent, you will be denied of the services and requests. In this system, all barangays are equal)," he stressed.

To ensure transparency, a webpage was created detailing the 2024 Summary Utilization Reports of each barangays, giving the public access on how their barangay officials use their respective budgets.

"Politically speaking, this was a difficult decision to make. (Besides often not getting credit, it makes it more difficult to "control" the barangays). But that's okay...alam nating malaking bahagi ang patronage politics at palakasan ststem sa siklo ng korapsyon, kaya pilit natin itong binabasag (Politically speaking, this was a difficult decision to make. But that's okay. We all know how big patronage politics and the palakasan system contribute to the cycle of corruption. But we are and we will do everything to break this cycle)."