Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto has been recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 100 emerging leaders for the prestigious 2025 TIME100 Next list.
The annual TIME100 Next celebrates rising stars and influential young leaders across the globe.
In an article written by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa, published on Tuesday, September 20, Sotto’s firm stance against corruption was highlighted as a defining mark of his leadership.
“In the Philippines, fighting corruption feels like death by a thousand cuts—each small victory eroded by the system’s capacity to regenerate. But Vico Sotto is proving it can be done,” Ressa wrote.
She added, “At 36, Pasig City’s mayor has toppled a 27-year family dynasty not through money or machinery, but through radical transparency: a 24/7 information and complaints hotline, public procurement that’s livestreamed, and the slashing of project costs by eliminating kickbacks.”
The Mayors for Good Governance (M4GG), an alliance of reform-oriented local leaders in the Philippines where Sotto serves as a convenor, also congratulated him on the international recognition.
“Mataas na pagpupugay para sa ating convenor na si Mayor Vico Sotto, sa kanyang pagkakasama sa prestihiyosong TIME100 Next list ngayong taon!” the group said in its statement.
This is not the first time Sotto has been honored abroad. He was previously named one of 12 awardees of an international anti-corruption award in the United States.