Vico Sotto received this award for Pasig City’s development project
Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto was officially recognized as one of the 24 global winners of the Bloomberg Philanthropies 2025-2026 Mayors Challenge.
Mayor Vico is known for his “good governance” and transparency when it comes to serving his constituents. Other parts of the Philippines have been recognizing the changes made in Pasig when he became the Mayor.
Just recently, based on the report from PEP, Mayor Vico once again accepted an award for his leadership. Pasig City was among Bloomberg Philanthropies 2025-2026 Mayors Challenge winners.
This international competition honors city leaders who develop bold, resident-focused innovations to overhaul core public services.
Pasig City was named one of 24 global winners in a competition spanning 20 countries for its innovative “floating parks” concept. By repurposing barges into green public spaces along the Pasig River, the project fosters community pride through resident-led design, construction, and management.
This initiative first took shape in late 2025 with “Hope Float,” a prototype co-developed by four local barangays.
On April 29, 2026, Pasig joined other winning cities at Bloomberg CityLab in Madrid to coordinate the full-scale implementation of these urban innovations.
As a winner, Pasig City will receive a $1 million grant along with expert technical assistance and funding to hire dedicated teams for project implementation.
Pasig is the only Philippine city among the winners, joining cities like Barcelona, Spain, and Surabaya, Indonesia in this elite group.
Mayor Sotto personally received the award in Madrid, Spain, in April 2026, where winning mayors gathered to collaborate on scaling their urban solutions.
Meanwhile, with Mayor Vico Sotto’s leadership, many Filipinos are pushing him to run for a higher position, including the presidency, in the 2028 elections. However, he has been reiterating that he will not run for the next elections and that he wants to teach.
Just recently, Mayor Vico’s father, veteran TV host-comedian Vic Sotto, reacted to this call. Bossing Vic said that for now, his son is not yet qualified to run for president because of the age factor, but he stressed that serving the people will always be in the mayor’s blood.
