DSWD: Mentally challenged woman ‘forced’ to be in smear video vs. Vico Sotto

The person with disability (PWD) in the viral video saying negative things about Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto was "forced" to do so in exchange for rice, according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

In an interview on Unang Balita on Tuesday, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said that the mentally challenged individual was told what to say by those who made the video.

“Ayon sa kanyang salaysay, at ayon na rin sa salaysay ng kanyang kamag-anak, siya ay pinilit at tinuruan siya kung ano ang sasabihin niya. Ang nangyari, sinabi niya na ayaw niya pero pinilit siya. So napapayag siya,” Gatchalian said.

(Based on her and her family’s stories, she was forced and was taught what to say. She said she didn't want to do it, but they forced her. She eventually agreed.)

“Ang sunod niyang sagot, ‘Hindi ko alam ang sasabihin ko, hindi ako marunong sumagot sa mga ganitong katanungan.’ [Ang sabi,] ‘Di bale tuturuan ka namin.’ Tinuruan siya. Fineed siya nung sagot,” he added.

(She then said she didn’t know what to say, but the team said they would teach her. So she was fed with what to say.)

In the video uploaded on a Facebook page called “The Journal Pasig,” the 77-year-old woman was featured testifying against Sotto, who is seeking another term as mayor in the May 2025 midterm elections.

Her niece, however, expressed anger against the people behind the video for supposedly taking advantage of her aunt’s disability.

Exploitation

The DSWD then dispatched a fact-finding team to look into the reported “malicious exploitation” of the PWD.

Gatchalian said that the DSWD’s fact-finding team discovered that the video was shot in an area allegedly linked with a certain candidate in Pasig City.

“Hindi kandidato ang nagbibigay ng bigas [the rice was not distributed by the candidate], but it was taking place supposedly in an address or a headquarters of a known candidate in the area,” he said.

He also lamented that the woman might now be facing psychological trauma for what happened to her.

“Hiyang-hiya siya. Kinakantyawan na siya. Iniinis siya ng mga kapitbahay. So ‘yung ating may kapansanan na mentally challenged or merong mental disability, ay mas lalong may pinagdaraanan,” the DSWD chief said.

(She's so embarrassed. She's being teased and her neighbors are annoying her. So that person who is mentally challenged or has a mental disability is going through something worse now.)

Gatchalian said that the DSWD is ready to file appropriate charges against the people behind the incident, if necessary, for violating the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act, which also protects mentally challenged individuals.

The woman’s family has also yet to decide if they will file charges against the video uploader. —Giselle Ombay/ VAL, GMA Integrated News