Election fact checks

FALSE: Vico Sotto comments on Duterte endorsing Sara as next president

Rappler.com

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FALSE: Vico Sotto comments on Duterte endorsing Sara as next president
The Pasig City mayor's comment that no family has a monopoly of good leadership was made on May 28, 2020. It was in response to a question on whether he was willing to give his position to a family member after his term.
FALSE: Vico Sotto comments on Duterte endorsing Sara as next president
At a glance:
  • Claim: Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto made a statement on June 5, 2021, about President Rodrigo Duterte endorsing his daughter, Sara Duterte, as his successor.
  • Rating: FALSE
  • The facts: Sotto’s comment that no family has a monopoly of good leadership was made on May 28, 2020, and it was in response to a question on whether he was willing to give his position to a family member after his term as Pasig City mayor. 
  • Why we fact-checked this: The claim was shared by a news organization’s Facebook account, and reposted by multiple pages on the platform, as detected through social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle.
Complete details:

A post initially published by Panay News on Facebook falsely claimed that Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto expressed his thoughts on June 5, 2021, about President Rodrigo Duterte endorsing his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, as his successor.

Their original post was captioned, Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto expresses his thoughts on President Rodrigo Duterte’s endorsement of his daughter, current Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio, to run for the presidency in the 2022 election. 

Sotto’s supposed statement read, “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 we already had.”

(If you’re a good leader, you would be able to pass [the mantle] onto the next leader. It means that there’s continuity. You don’t pass it on somebody just because he’s your child or any relative. No person has a monopoly of good leadership. No family has a monopoly of good leadership. Let’s find the next generation of leaders who will be better than the leaders we already had.)

After Rappler reached out to Panay News, the latter updated their original post. However, multiple pages had already reposted the false image by then. These can still be viewed by the public. One post containing the claim has gained a total of 7,751 reactions, 3,444 comments, and 232 shares, as of writing, according to social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle. 

The claim is false.

Sotto made this statement in an interview with Howie Severino on his online talk show Quarantined with Howie Severino, uploaded on May 28, 2020. Sotto talked about his views regarding his relatives replacing him after his term in Pasig City mayor.

Severino asked if Sotto would hand over his position to a family member. The mayor replied: “I think the mark of a good leader is the succession…. So kung magaling kang leader, mapapasa mo sa susunod na leader. Ibig sabihin may continuity. (So if you’re a good leader, you will be able to pass it onto the next leader. That means there will be continuity.)

When Sotto was asked if he would support a qualified relative to be his successor, he said: “Well, let’s say na kapatid ko, I would really strongly discourage them. Hindi lang dahil hindi maganda tingnan, but ang puso ko para sa Pasig, ang puso namin ’yung team namin dito, magkaroon pa ng iba pang leaders. Kasi hindi lang naman isang tao ’yung magaling eh. Hindi lang isang pamilya ang magaling.” 

(Well, let’s say it’s my sibling, I would really strongly discourage them. Not only because it’s inappropriate, but my heart is for Pasig, the heart of our team here is for us to have other leaders. Because no person has the monopoly of good leadership. No family has the monopoly.) 

Sotto also addressed the claim in a Facebook post on June 9, debunking it as fake news. He clarified that the statement he made in 2020 was not related to the upcoming presidential elections.

Duterte said on Tuesday, June 8, that he was discouraging his daughter from running for president in the 2022 elections. (READ: Duterte says ‘no one deserving’ to be his successor, but…) – Nicole Anne Perez/Rappler.com

Nicole Anne Perez is a Rappler intern. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s internship program here.

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