--- title: Vico Sotto: TIME100 Next 2025 description: Find out how Vico Sotto is shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. canonical: https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318834/vico-sotto/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-09-30T10:48:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-03T00:54:53.521Z article:section: World og:title: Vico Sotto Is on the 2025 TIME100 Next og:description: Find out why Vico Sotto is on this year’s list og:url: https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318834/vico-sotto/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66d5b46d4bf418d2/6998ca0b93610cbbfdc30026/t100-next-2025-Vico_Sotto.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Vico Sotto Is on the 2025 TIME100 Next og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Vico Sotto Is on the 2025 TIME100 Next twitter:description: Find out why Vico Sotto is on this year’s list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66d5b46d4bf418d2/6998ca0b93610cbbfdc30026/t100-next-2025-Vico_Sotto.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 30, 2025 # Vico Sotto by Maria Ressa  Courtesy Vico Sotto 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. 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. First elected in 2019, Sotto wields spreadsheets against both graft and inherited privilege. When COVID-19 hit, his clean governance shone: mobile kitchens fed front liners efficiently, zero-emission buses moved workers without inflated contracts, and aid reached families based on need, not political loyalty. His courageous approach—data-driven, direct, and empathetic—is a master class in modern, ethical leadership and has twice won him re-­election, including in May. It’s a testament to the power of the individual to ignite a movement for change. _Ressa is a journalist, co-founder of Rappler, and Nobel Peace_ _Prize laureate_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318834/vico-sotto/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318834/vico-sotto/"},"headline":"Vico Sotto","datePublished":"2025-09-30T10:48:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:54:53.521Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318834/vico-sotto/","keywords":["TIME100 Next","sponsorshipblock","t100nextleaders25"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66d5b46d4bf418d2/6998ca0b93610cbbfdc30026/t100-next-2025-Vico_Sotto.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66d5b46d4bf418d2/6998ca0b93610cbbfdc30026/t100-next-2025-Vico_Sotto.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time100-next/","name":"TIME100 Next"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318834/vico-sotto/","name":"Vico Sotto"}}]}] ```