The whole trouble with Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto is that his supporters treat him more like a showbiz celebrity and not much like the professional public servant that he supposedly is. Actually, to describe the people who gush about his every media blitz as “supporters” is erroneous to begin with. What he really has a are fans.
Netizens are now noticing that their timelines are being filled by what they describe as Vico Sotto “fantards” gushing about every sound byte and “action” photo of their idol that they come across on the Net. This is doing a disservice to the Office of the Mayor of Pasig City. Rather than be respected as an institution of public administration, it is being turned into a showbiz circus.
Creating a media circus around the scion of a powerful entertainment industry clan subtracts from the quiet achievers of the civil service. Fantardism encourages one upmanship rather than collaboration. It could even demotivate countless people who do their jobs properly in obscurity outside of the limelight as a matter of professional duty. The way Sottos fantards are behaving has no place in a modern democratic society.
Vico Sotto’s supporters should treat the Office of the Mayor of Pasig City with respect. The office is not to be made about any one particular person who happens to serve the community of Pasig City over the course of his or her elected term. Sotto’s followers need to grow up and mature from being the fantards that they are now to true constituents befitting the public office he now occupies.
Webmaster of Get Real Philippines