Most Hated by Netizens, Sotto Tops 2016 Senatorial Survey

Surprise! Surprise! Despite being the most hated senator by netizens, it seems that Senator Vicente “Tito Sen” Sotto III still has the vote of the masses, dominating the 2016 senatorial survey in the recent data released by Pulse Asia.

Some 51.6% of the respondents indicated they will vote for Sotto while 51.5% will vote for Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan who came in second. If the surveys would translate to votes in the 2016 elections, then both Sotto and Pangilinan would surely be part of the so-called “Magic 12”.

What’s there to Hate about Tito Sen?

Pepsi Paloma

Eat Bulaga’s crowd calls Sotto as “Tito Sen”, giving the impression of how likeable and popular this man is. People from the ‘90s view the senator in a “love-hate” light, however, especially because of his alleged involvement in the hushing up of the alleged rape of Pepsi Paloma by Eat Bulaga’s comedic trio (which includes his brother, Vic Sotto).

Netizens could not help but mention Paloma every time something about Sotto pops up on the web, yet voters are surprisingly more forgiving, putting him in the senate time and time again.

Conflicting Pro-life/Anti-life Stand

At the height of the discussions and debates regarding the controversial but much-needed Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, Sotto adamantly sided the “pro-life” faction, staunchly saying that using contraception of any kind is equal to killing a human life.

Even though there was public clamor for the bill to be passed, Sotto refused to take the people’s side. It even came to a point when he spoke about a “dramatic” contraceptive-related event in his life in which they lost a baby because of his wife’s supposed use of contraception. Netizens hated how he used that moment as example.

A staunch “pro-life” person who vehemently declares he is against contraception, Sotto surprised netizens when he declared that he wants the death penalty to be reinstated so as to make criminals think twice about doing a crime.

He says that preventing conception is killing life yet he wants to reinstate the law that kills criminals [who are already alive, of course]. How can you be pro-life yet anti-life at the same time, huh? Make up your mind, will you?

“No Relation, No Back-Ride” Motorcycle Policy

This might not be something very upsetting in Metro Manila, but it has a huge impact in the provinces where the motorcycle is the primary means of transportation among the locals.

Of course, people in the metro are still angry and somewhat bemused over this ‘stupid’ policy. If passed into law, would it mean we will all be carrying around birth certificates and proofs of relation just so we can ride a motorcycle?

How the heck are our policemen going to implement this law, anyway? Would they have to flag down all the people who looked somewhat different because they are not related? Pretty soon there would also be ‘number coding’ for motorcycles because people wouldn’t have a choice but to buy their own motorcycle (or commute) because they can’t ride with a friend. Utter stupidity.

Perhaps the senator was just bored and wanted to look busy, so he penned this law as an answer to the riding-in-tandem crisis?

Plagiarism, Cybercrime Issues

When it was made public that he plagiarized portions of the Healthy Home Economist blog, instead of saying sorry, he insulted the blog owner by saying he did not plagiarize anything because the writer was “just a blogger” [a blogger is not a writer?]. He even went as far as daring the blogger to sue him, knowng that proving he copied the blog would be quite a lengthy process and might not even hold much water in court.

Then, when the cybercrime law was being made, he inserted the libel clause after announcing he wouldn’t. In this stupid cybercrime law, people can get jailed for “liking” stuff on Facebook – crazy, isn’t it?

Try to Google “Sottoism” – you’ll be taken right to the Urban Dictionary’s entry:

Sottoism

(Noun) Etymology: Coined from Vicente Sotto III, one of Philippines’ senators when his senatorial speech was found to have multiple verbatim quotes without citations of their authors.

1. the practice of plagiarizing a literature and using such for public- speaking engagements
2. the act of using celebrity status to present a copied idea whilst making it appear as his/her own
3. an event where one gets caught in the act of plagiarism and arrogantly admits to be at no fault

(Verb) sottoed, sottoing

Girl: You copied a divorced actor’s marriage vows and used it in our wedding? I can’t believe this! If only sottoism is a ground for annulment!

Guy: Hey, I changed the names!

So many netizens hate Sen. Sotto yet he proves himself the darling of the masses, if the recent Pulse Asia survey is to be believed. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.So many netizens hate Sen. Sotto yet he proves himself the darling of the masses, if the recent Pulse Asia survey is to be believed. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.

Are you voting for Sotto in the 2016 elections?