Vico Sotto Is Among TIME Magazine's Most Influential Rising Stars

Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto is among TIME's 2025 list of "The World’s Most Influential Rising Stars," which the American magazine also calls TIME100 Next. An expansion of "The 100 Most Influential People" (a.k.a. TIME100), TIME100 Next provides "a snapshot of the moment and to recognize those who we feel are truly changing the world this year," said Sam Jacobs, TIME's Editor-in-Chief. And given that many leaders on the list are "younger than the century they are shaping," it is a testament that "true influence knows no age and that it can arrive early in a career."

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Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto, as described by journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa

In a write-up released by TIME on September 30, 2025, Vico Sotto is lauded for fighting corruption in the Philippines—even if it is one that "feels like death by a thousand cuts," said Maria Ressa.

"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," the citation added.

Sotto's clean governance shone amid the global pandemic as his administration set up mobile kitchens that fed frontliners, deployed zero-emission buses for city workers, and aided families that were in need.

Ressa called Sotto's data-driven, direct, and empathetic approach a "master-class in modern, ethical leadership," and it won him two more terms, with the last one coming to an end in 2028. "It’s a testament to the power of the individual to ignite a movement for change."

Vico Sotto was also Esquire Philippines' July 2019 cover star.

TIME's The World’s Most Influential Rising Stars

Filipino-Canadian actor Manny Jacinto also made it to TIME100 Next, with a description by Emmy-winning writer and producer Alan Yang.

"One of the greatest joys of my time working in film and TV has been the revelation that talent and kindness aren’t mutually exclusive. Manny Jacinto is the perfect example," Yang wrote. His incredible range as an actor was cited, especially for his performances in The Good Place, The Acolyte, and Freakier Friday. "But more importantly, Manny is fundamentally, elementally, constitutionally good."

Other personalities in The World’s Most Influential Rising Stars are artist Jonathan Bailey, poet and essayist Ocean Vuong, basketball player Paige Bueckers, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, a Member of the New Zealand Parliament Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, LGBTQ human rights defender Viktoria Radvanyi, and Ecuadorian activist Nina Gualinga.

"The list includes young leaders who are working to cement Donald Trump’s legacy—as well as those working to oppose it. It means spotlighting leaders from across the world [...] and celebrating cultural and scientific breakthroughs," Jacobs said on how they chose the 2025 TIME100 Next.

The selection was led by Dan Macsai and Cate Matthews with contributions from TIME’s editors and reporters around the world. Categories include Artists, Phenoms, Innovators, Leaders, and Advocates.

"Everyone on the TIME100 Next leapt into action—often in challenging circumstances—and in doing so, accomplished the extraordinary," Matthews said. "They demonstrate the power we all have to make a difference."