Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto has declared that the city’s governance journey has entered a new chapter—one focused not just on eliminating corruption but on institutional strength and strategic spending that directly benefits its citizens.
Delivering his seventh State of the City Address on Monday, Sotto said Pasig’s earlier years under his leadership centered on cleaning up the system and ensuring transparency. Now, he said, the mission has evolved.
“Now that we have substantially cleaned up the government, the question is how do we spend this money—wisely, efficiently, and in a way that will redound to the benefit of the Pasigueño citizens,” Sotto said.
The mayor emphasized that Pasig’s goal is simple yet crucial: “for our local government unit to become stronger and better than ever before.”
Among the city’s key reforms is the full rollout of the Integrated Business One-Stop Shop, which has made business permit processing fully digital—allowing entrepreneurs to submit forms, upload documents, and receive electronic permits without visiting city hall.
Sotto also highlighted that more than ₱23 million in loans have been granted to over 2,300 small and medium enterprises through the Tapat program, created in partnership with the City Council. The city’s cooperative sector, he added, now leads Metro Manila in compliance rates.
In a first for Pasig, the local government implemented administrative garnishment against large companies with unpaid business taxes, recovering almost ₱100 million so far from delinquent taxpayers. “When we collect what was stolen from us, let us not complicate things anymore,” the mayor said.
He also underscored continued reforms in transparency and participatory governance, including the mass regularization of employees and the expansion of barangay-level development planning. “If we want the people to trust us and for governance to become more efficient, this is very important,” Sotto added.
