Pasig mayor on Ombudsman case: Interesting timing

PASIG city mayor Vico Sotto yesterday shrugged off the graft complaint filed against him before the Office of the Ombudsman, noting the “interesting timing” when the case was lodged.

In a statement, Sotto said “this is not the first time” that charges were hurled against him.

“Notice the interesting timing of this (complaint) – at the same time that certain political groups are ramping up their political activities,” he said.

A certain Ethelmart Austria Cruz, who identified herself as a private citizen and a resident of Pasig City, sued Sotto for graft before the Office of the Ombudsman on August 7, 2024.

Cruz alleged that Sotto granted a 100-percent tax discount to a telecommunications company based in Pasig City despite alleged inconsistencies in the documents it submitted to city hall.

Sotto said he has yet to receive a copy of the complaint.

“It’s important to understand the process that cases go through in the Office of the Ombudsman. It’s easy to have a complaint received and then sensationalize it by bringing the ‘received’ copy to the media,” Sotto said.

He added: “With this particular complaint, I can’t even comment because I don’t have an official copy. In some cases, the Ombudsman dismisses it outright, and we won’t even receive a copy. Other times, there will be a clarificatory hearing.”

On Monday, Sotto hinted of a possible demolition job against him after he confronted a group protesting the P6 billion new city hall compound construction project and found out that most of the protesters were not his constituents but were from Quezon City.

The rally was supposedly organized by a group called “Save Pasig Org.”

The mayor alleged that the St. Gerrard Construction/Charity (SGC) foundation could be behind the propaganda against the project, an accusation which the company denied yesterday.

Lawyer Raymond Mendoza said the SGC personnel were having their team building at the Shangri-La EDSA Hotel at the time of the protest.

Mendoza said they were not aware of the protest.

He likewise raised eyebrows at how the protesters “quickly” owned up that they were not from Pasig City.

“It’s very weird that if you’re doing something wrong, you immediately accept such