Vico Sotto denounces use of old quote vs possible Sara Duterte presidential run

Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto on Friday slammed alleged members of the opposition for supposedly "misquoting" him and making it appear he was criticizing President Rodrigo Duterte over his possible endorsement of his daughter Sara Duterte running for the presidency during Eleksyon 2022.

In his Facebook page, Sotto slammed a post by a Western Visayas newspaper for running a caption in which he expressed his thoughts on the President backing the current Davao City Mayor's run for the presidency.

"Kung magaling kang leader, mapapasa mo sa susunod na lider. Ibig sabihin, may continuity. Hindi 'yung anak mo lang o ano. Hindi lang naman ang isang tao ang magaling eh. Hindi lang isang pamilya ang magaling. Let's find the next generation of leaders who will be better than the leaders that we already had," the newspaper quoted Sotto as saying.

(A good leader should be able to pass on his authority to the next leader. That means there's continuity. And it's not just passing it on to your children. One family does not have a monopoly on good leadership.)

The Pasig City Mayor however labeled the caption as a "misquote" and "#FAKENEWS."

"Maaaring totoo ang quote, pero last year pa at HINDI presidential elections ang topic!! Misquoted ng ibang Dilawan group para sumakto sa naratibo nila... kaso lang, naniwala ang iilang supporters ng Presidente at kaya nagalit," Sotto clarified.

(The quote may be accurate but I said this last year and I was not referring to the presidential elections. Yellow party supporters misquoted me to support their narrative. The problem is some of the President's supporters believed it and they're angry.)

Sotto reminded the public to be critical as "fake news" items were to be expected with the coming elections.

"Hindi naman ito malaking isyu. Ngunit pino-post ko lang ito para sabihin:

1. Laganap talaga ang fake news at dadami pa ito habang lumalapit eleksyon. Maging mapanuri. Hindi porket gusto (o ayaw) mo ang quote ay totoo na.
2. Dito sa Pasig, WORK MODE lang tayo. Wag nating intidihin ang maiingay na boses na mahilig gumawa ng intriga. Sa lungsod pa lang, ang dami na nating kailangan gawin; hindi ngayon ang panahon para makikisawsaw sa national politics.
3. Masyado na tayong polarized bilang mga Pilipino. Basta sa Pasig, welcome ang lahat ng partido. Hindi natin kailangan gumaya sa politika ng iba.??"

(This is not a big deal. But I'm posting this to say:

1. There's a lot of fake news going around, and there's going to be more of it as we come closer to the elections. Be critical. Just because you approve of (or disapprove of) a quote doesn't make it true.
2. Here in Pasig, we're all in WORK MODE. Let's not pay attention to these loud voices that are trying to start something malicious. There's a lot that needs to get done in the city; this is not the time to get involved in national politics.
3. As a country, we are too polarized. As far as Pasig is concerned, all political parties are welcome. We don't have to get involved in dirty politics.)

GNO had sought comment from the Western Visayas news publication, but the news organization had yet to respond as of posting time. — DVM, GMA News