Vico eyes raps vs netizen over ‘edited’ evidence

MANILA, Philippines — Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto is mulling criminal charges against a netizen whom he said used “edited” financial documents in claiming the city government has P33 million in unliquidated cash advances.

Sotto was referring to a Facebook post by a certain Anthony Torre on Wednesday that included a financial document from the city allegedly showing P33,730,513.32 in unliquidated cash advances.

The cash advances were purportedly made by city accountant Valerie Torres.

However, Sotto said the document was edited wherein the liquidations were removed. He added that a certified true copy from the city account showed the remaining unliquidated cash advances is less than P576,000.

“Saan kayo kumukuha ng lakas ng loob para gumawa at magkalat ng ganitong klaseng panloloko (Where do you get the audacity to make and spread such lies)?” Sotto said.

While he has not responded to previous attacks against him, Sotto hinted at suing Torre for spreading false information.

“Mukhang criminal offense ang nagawang pag-edit ng public records at paggamit nito para mang-akusa ng korapsyon (It seems to be a criminal offense to edit public records and use them for accusations of corruption),” he said.

Sotto pointed out that when he became mayor in 2019, several employees had millions of pesos in unliquidated cash advances, including one with almost P100 million.

“We asked the former mayor’s employees to explain and my team even helped them liquidate it properly,” he said, referring to his predecessor, Bobby Eusebio.

Sotto stressed there is nothing wrong with cash advances so long as these are properly liquidated, considering that the country is still facing the COVID-19 pandemic.