Vico clarifies P3B Pasig surplus: ‘Not an accomplishment’

Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto has clarified the P3 billion surplus or savings of the local government, stressing that it should not be seen as an accomplishment.

According to him, government funds are meant to be used to help people and boost the economy, not hoarded.

"It is true that Pasig has had big savings, but it's more important to understand why," Sotto said in a Facebook post.

The mayor explained that the city was able to save largely because of anti-corruption measures and procurement reform.

"To keep it short, the main reason is that because of true open bidding and no kickbacks, prices go down. What was previously P100 million can now be done for P80 million or even lower," he said.

He also pointed out that Pasig is still catching up with its absorptive capacity, following the rapid increase in its annual budget.

"Ang absorptive capacity ay ang kakayahan o limit ng local government unit para gamitin ang pondo sa maayos na paraan. Our annual budget doubled in 5 years from around P10 billion to P20 billion. Our expenditures (social services, other services, salaries, and infra) have also almost doubled, but not quite (very rough estimate from P9 billion to P16 billion)," Sotto said.

Sotto added that long-term reforms in planning, procurement, and implementation also contributed to the surplus.

"Madugo man ang mga pinakilalang pagbabago, ang resulta ay mas nakakasiguro tayo na magagamit ng tama ang ating pondo sa hinaharap," he said.

Now on his third and final term, Sotto acknowledged that the city did not inherit debt from the previous administration.

"With regard to debt, to be fair to the previous local administration, we did not inherit debt in 2019. Income generation was always their priority, to the point that even traffic enforcers had quotas," Sotto said.

"Pasigueños may also remember the big tarps they posted thanking them for the P15 billion cash-in-bank they left behind... but of course this was misleading, since the P15 billion was mostly a combination of continuing appropriations, accounts payable, and savings due to most plantilla positions being left vacant. But still, we give credit where credit is due," he added.

Sotto, son of actress Coney Reyes and comedian Vic Sotto, first won office in 2019 after ending the 27-year rule of the Eusebio clan.