‘New politics’

He’s all of 29. Several women in our office who watched him in our TV interview weren’t interested in what he told us, but just wanted to know if he is single.

On One News channel’s The Chiefs, we didn’t ask Pasig Councilor Victor Ma. Reyes Sotto about his civil status. But with his looks, inherited from his show biz parents Vic Sotto and Coney Reyes, we did ask Vico why he has opted for a career in politics rather than entertainment.

The discrepancy in compensation alone is considerable. As a councilor in a wealthy Metro Manila city, Sotto says he earns about P100,000 a month. He can make several times more than that by joining his father in the long-running noontime hit show Eat Bulaga.

But Vico Sotto says his heart simply wasn’t into it, to the dismay of his mother. He recalls crying when he was dragged before TV cameras in his younger years. He also didn’t get infected with the sports bug by the half-brother he grew up with, his kuya LA, from Coney’s marriage to basketball player Larry Mumar.

Instead, LA steeped Vico in current affairs, and stirred his interest in public service. Of course Vico’s uncle, “Tito Sen” – Senate President Tito Sotto – also served as an inspiration. Vico obtained a degree in political science from Ateneo.

In 2013, Vico Sotto began working as a legislative staff officer in Quezon City’s Sangguniang Panglungsod or city council. He later joined the Ateneo School of Government as project officer of two programs: Government Watch, and Political Democracy and Reform.

In the 2016 elections, Vico plunged into politics and won a seat in the Pasig council, garnering the highest number of votes in the first district.

Today he thinks he has become familiar enough with the workings of city hall to aim higher. Much higher. Vico Sotto is taking on Pasig’s ruling clan, the Eusebios, and running under Aksyon Demokratiko for mayor of the city.

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Although he’s a newcomer running against the incumbent and seeking to end the reign of a clan that has governed Pasig since 1992, this isn’t exactly a fight between David and Goliath.

Sotto admits that his famous surname gives him enviable name recall. Even as he touts “new politics,” he’s pragmatic enough to exploit his advantages over his rivals. You can’t choose your relatives, he told us. And his relatives are expected to join him on the campaign trail.

Already, Sotto says he’s starting to feel the heat. City employees take selfies with him, but refrain from posting the photos on social media after several were rebuked, he says, by supporters of the current administration.

But those are city hall employees. Outside the city government, nothing can keep private citizens from approaching the candidate. And when he is joined by his parents – as they did when they accompanied him in filing his candidacy – their star power can trump any fear of the wrath of city hall.

So what’s “new” about this type of politics? Former vice president Jejomar Binay, who faced The Chiefs in another episode, speaks for the thousands of political clans when he says that if the participation of relatives in elections would be curtailed, the same should be done to those belonging to the wealthiest families and those from show biz.

Vico Sotto admits that he thought about this when he set out to espouse “new politics” as an alternative to traditional politics. But he also thought that those blessed with a natural advantage should use it to gain a foothold in the dominion of trapos so they can begin implementing meaningful change.

The message will likely resonate among millennials. But given the state of Philippine politics and society in general, how much genuine change can even idealistic young politicos manage to implement?

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How much meaningful change can a millennial politician carry out, for example, in patronage politics when his constituents themselves expect him to help them in times of need, notably in the traditional “KBL” or kasal, binyag, libing (wedding, baptism, funeral)?

Sotto stresses that change cannot happen overnight, and he will have to provide for KBL. But if elected, he says he will design a system of making such contributions transparent, with funds drawn from public coffers and with accountability to the city’s taxpayers.

At the risk of being called kuripot or stingy, he says his constituents will also have to get used to an occasional rejection from him of requests for KBL and similar types of assistance.

Sotto also doesn’t want his name or image on any item given away or built by the city government. A non-trapo is against epal, and he intends to live up to his advocacy, he says.

And does someone espousing “new politics” campaign for public office in a different way? Sotto won’t give a ballpark figure on his estimated campaign expenses. He will conduct house-to-house campaigning and use social media. He wants to focus on issues rather than personalities – what he intends to do if elected, or to do better, because he concedes that the Eusebios have also done a lot of good in Pasig.

A 29-year-old would not stand a chance against the entrenched Eusebios – unless the surname is Sotto.

I’ve seen several other young individuals, mostly scions of political clans, promise new politics, only to be swallowed up by realpolitik. If Vico Sotto wins, let’s hope he doesn’t go the same way.