Korina Sanchez’s team responds to Vico Sotto slamming her interview with the Discayas
- Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto recently went viral after calling out journalists who interviewed Sara and Curlee Discaya before the 2025 Election
- According to Sotto, those journalists and news personalities should have asked themselves first why those people were supposedly willing to pay millions just to be interviewed
- Sotto shared screenshots from Korina Sanchez and Julius Babao’s separate interviews with the Discayas
- Sanchez’s camp has how released a statement regarding Sotto’s viral post
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Veteran journalist and host Korina Sanchez and her camp called out Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto for his recent Facebook post slamming certain journalists for interviewing Sara and Curlee Discaya before the 2025 Election.
Source: Facebook
In the viral post, Sotto said that journalists and news personalities should have asked themselves first why those people were supposedly willing to pay millions just to be interviewed. He also shared screenshots from Korina Sanchez and Julius Babao’s separate interviews with the Discayas.
Korina Sanchez’s camp responded with this statement:
“Dear Mayor Sotto,
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The platforms Korina Interviews and Rated Korina both take pride in their standards in storytelling and production. Both shows are multi-awarded by credible awarding bodies over the years. Our host Ms. Korina Sanchez Roxas has her esteemed place in the industry for very sturdy reasons.
Firstly, in choosing subjects and topics for our shows, there must be public interest in it, plus a story to tell. Second, bashing or criticizing or slandering other personalities or businesses is strictly disallowed. Third, subjects simply tell their life story. This is no investigative piece.
The stories of many personalities, including politicians and public figures, real estate developers, or sportsmen, have been the content of Rated Korina for decades. The same is true for several other magazine shows and interviews by many hosts across all networks.
In the case of the Sara and Curlee Discaya interview, their rags-to-riches story is their story. While the feature was never intended to be investigative but simply a success story, should there have been anything untrue about what they claimed after airing, it is up to the accuser to point this out. We will air it if verified.
In fairness to Ms. Sanchez, she only found out she was interviewing a Pasig mayoralty candidate on the day of taping, and she was not the one in contact with the couple for the interview.
We reached out to your camp several times since your former mayoral term and even informed your mother, Ms. Coney Reyes, about this feature story on the Discayas, but you had always declined requests for an interview.
The interview was conducted well before the campaign period, aired in November 2024 and January 2025. Yes, there are payments for certain businesses, products, personalities, companies, or politicians much like payments for advertisements, and these go to the network with an official receipt issued to the client. There is no such thing as a 10-million peso placement for an interview. It is irresponsible to even say such. As your malice is posted on Facebook and publicly besmirches the reputation of Ms. Sanchez, this clearly constitutes cyber libel.
To insinuate that our show is irresponsible in only airing what is paid for is slanderous.
Who are we to presume our interviewees as evil with no basis or evidence long before they come into controversy?
Are we also to presume you are guilty of overpricing the construction of government buildings just because your opponent thinks so?
Are we to automatically deduce you are grandstanding at the expense of others because this is your last term and you are planning to run for higher office?
Only someone of inferior intellect and juvenile reasoning, if not someone utterly deluded and un-Christian, would publicly make such conclusions.
Mr. Mayor, just because you won your seat of public trust does not put you in a position of authority over editorial prerogative, nor does it give you license to cast doubt on the integrity of seasoned journalists simply because they interviewed your opponent, who did not speak against you, and because you refused to be interviewed.
The Discayas are not allowed to use the interview video they are propagating, and legal action shall be taken on this matter. All interviews of those who ran for office have also been taken down from our official sites right after elections.
We hope your issues have been clarified and we will be happy to address any further concerns. While we recognize free speech and the platforms with which we express opinions, there is also such a thing as thoughtful restraint that benefits truth and fairness. We all claim to be Christian, after all.”
Here is Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto’s Facebook post:
“With these interviews again going viral, let’s look at it from a different angle…
Bago tanggapin ng mga kilalang journalists ang alok para mag-interview ng Contractor na Pumapasok sa Politika, hindi ba nila naisip na, “Uy teka, ba’t kaya handa ’to magbigay ng 10 million* (*not an exact figure pero alam nyo na) para lang magpa-interview sa akin??”
I know for a fact that there are many good, honest people in media who are disappointed, if not angered, at practices like this which undermine the integrity of their profession.
In this case, maybe they didn’t do anything technically “illegal,” but at the very least it should be considered shameful and violative of the spirit of their code of ethics. Puwede silang magtago sa grey areas: “hindi naman journalism ito… more of lifestyle lang… kailangan kasi ng sponsor…” pero ’wag na tayong maglokohan. They rose to national prominence as broadcast journalists/news personalities; puhunan [dapat] nila ang kanilang reputasyon at kredibilidad... at sa ganitong kalakaran, ito rin ang reputasyon at kredibilidad na pinahihiram nila sa mga corrupt kapalit ng pera.
Let’s remember that corruption is systemic... it permeates into every sector of society, not just government. But we can slowly but surely break this cycle if more and more of us consistently do our part, wherever we are and whatever are position may be, one step at a time.”
Vico Sotto, whose full name is Victor Ma. Regis "Vico" Nubla Sotto, was born June 17, 1989 and is a Filipino politician serving as the mayor of Pasig. He joined the Aksyon Demokratiko party and was elected mayor of Pasig in 2019 and was re-elected in 2022. He was re-elected for his third consecutive term at the 2025 elections. His parents are actor-comedian-host Vic Sotto and actress Coney Reyes, with both of them supporting their son in his political endeavors.
Previously, Vic Sotto summed up his reason for not entering politics. In an interview with The Philippine Star, the veteran comedian explained why he’s leaving politics to his brother Tito Sotto, and his son, Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto.
Meanwhile, Ara Mina believes Vic Sotto will not take her political decision personally despite joining the rival camp of his son, Mayor Vico Sotto. She is running for councilor in Pasig’s District 2 under Sarah Discaya. Ara said she only knows Vic from working together in the 2003 film Fantastic Man and has no personal relationship with Vico. She shared that joining Discaya’s slate felt like a sign from God leading her to public service.
Bagong feature: Tingnan ang mga balitang para sa'yo ➡️ hanapin ang "Recommended for you" block at mag-enjoy!
Source: KAMI.com.gh
