Pasig City saved over P150-M after city gov't cleanup, Vico says
MANILA, Philippines— Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto on Wednesday announced that the city government saved more than P150 million pesos in the first months of its corruption cleanup.
Sotto said the amount saved covered July to November, or his first five months in office.
“We have saved over P150 million because of our open and honest to goodness public bidding for the city's goods and services,” Sotto wrote.
Sotto explained that the money was saved in two ways.
He said that he instructed a 10-percent reduction in the approved budgets of contracts.
The mayor also said that he made all bidding processes truly open, even broadcasting and recording them on Facebook.
"As a result, competition is high and prices go down. Previously, almost all winning bids were within 1% the ABC (this is a red flag for other auditors). Now, it is common to see winning bids that are 10-50% lower,” Sotto said in mixed English and Filipino.
“ABC is Approved Budget for the Contract as estimated by City Hall, i.e. highest price a contractor can bid for. The winner should be the lowest bid at the same quality,” he added.
According to Sotto, the reduction of ABC by 10% is doable because he does not accept kickbacks or bribes. He said that he did not accept them even when he was still a city councilor.
He admitted that the cleanup of the city government was hard but worth it.
"Hindi madali ang ginagawa nating paglilinis, pero sulit ang hirap. Dahil sa dulo, ang ordinaryong mamamayan ang makikinabang. Mas maraming pondo para sa iba't ibang serbisyo, lalo na sa serbisyong pangkalusugan," the mayor wrote.
(The cleanup we’re doing is not easy but it is worth it. In the end, it’s the citizens who will benefit from this. There would be more funds for other services, especially for healthcare.)
“Tuloy ang pagbabago!” he said.
(Change continues!)
When he was still running for mayor, Sotto in April said he planned to reduce infrastructure spending in Pasig City and instead allocate more money to healthcare.
Last month, Sotto approved the city's 2020 budget, which amounts to approximately P12 billion with health care services getting 21% of the budget.
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