MANILA — The person with disability featured in a smear campaign video against Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto was "coerced," the Department of Social Welfare and Development confirmed Thursday.

Speaking on ANC, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said the PWD "was coerced to make those disparaging statements against her will."

DSWD to investigate alleged use of PWD in smear campaigns, politicking in Pasig

In a now-viral video uploaded on Facebook, "Mary" — a 57-year-old woman who has been diagnosed with a psychological disability — said that she will no longer vote for Sotto as she has yet to receive any aid from the incumbent mayor.

"Sana po matulungan kami na makabili ng bigas… Ako po wala pa po akong nakukuha," Mary said in the video uploaded on "The Journal Pasig" Facebook page.

When asked if she would still vote for Sotto in the upcoming elections, Mary answered in the negative and said that she would vote for Sarah Discaya, the opposition candidate in Pasig City's mayoralty race.

The PWD's family had publicly decried the uploading of the video, saying that it maliciously exploited a mentally challenged person.

'COERCION' HAPPENED IN ST. GERRARD

In the interview, Gatchalian said that the PWD, while falling in line to get free rice, was asked if she wanted to be interviewed. 

The "victim," according to Gatchalian, refused to be interviewed but the "coercer kept on convincing her" and "they managed to move her into another area."

"At that point, she kept on saying I don't know what to say. They said 'Don't worry we will teach you what to say,'" he said.

Gatchalian assured that psychosocial interventions were put in place following the incident, saying the victim was "distraught," "anxious" and underwent a "mental traumatic episode."

The alleged coercion happened inside the facility of St. Gerrard Construction, he added. The facility is owned by the Discaya family, whose matriarch Sarah is running against Sotto.

Gatchalian also said that they are working with Meta and the National Bureau of Investigation to take down the smear campaign video.

"It's clearly orchestrated," he said, noting that the agency is working to identify the people behind the video. —with reports from Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News