Pinoys urged: Don't glorify flaunting of wealth

Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto has urged the public to "challenge the culture" of admiring ostentatious displays of wealth by public officials and relatives of contractors, stressing that such behavior is "strong evidence" of how corruption has been normalized in the country.

- By MARK ERNEST VILLEZA

In an interview with ABS-CBN on Wednesday, Sotto said Filipinos should stop seeing lavish lifestyles as aspirational, particularly when linked to government projects funded by taxpayers.

“We should pay attention to those kinds of stories and moments. Let’s make it abnormal, let’s make it not inspiring,” Sotto said.

“As public officials, we have a code of ethics. Ostentatious display of wealth is bad regardless of the source… but what we saw online came from the contractors’ side, they themselves posted it. So if they want attention, let’s give it to them,” he added.

Earlier this week, children of lawmakers and contractors who reportedly secured billions of pesos in flood control projects drew criticism for posting vlogs and photos showing luxury cars, designer items and expensive vacations.

“Corruption should be disgusting. It should not be acceptable,” said Sotto, who also lamented that many Filipinos have come to accept ill-gotten wealth as a norm in politics.

“Through the years, that’s what happened. It became accepted by all of us. If we want to fix this, we need to admit that at some level, all of us are guilty, not because we received anything, but because at some point, we allowed it,” Sotto said.