To government and Philippine independence Sotto was the main author of the Press Freedom Law (now known as the Sotto Law,
Republic Act No. 53) enacted in 1946. The Sotto Law protects journalists from being compelled to name their news sources. In 1899 (then just 22 years old), he put up
La Justicia, the first newspaper in Cebu published by a Philippine citizen, in which he defended the issue of Philippine independence. It was suspended on orders by the American military governor. In the week following, the undaunted Sotto begun publishing
El Nacional. This was also ordered closed and Sotto was imprisoned at Fort San Pedro for two months and six days. After this experience, he began using the pen name Taga Kotta (of the fort, or resident of the fort). He was found guilty of treason as a member of a committee of rebels along with those in Manila and Hong Kong. When he was freed in 1900, he published
Ang Suga (The Light), which was first issued on June 16, 1901. He organized in Hong Kong in 1911 the English–Spanish fortnightly
The Philippine Republic. Its publication was stopped a year later and its editor was arrested. Sotto's extradition was requested three times by the American government but every time it was denied by the British courts. The Philippine Republic resumed publication after a month of suspension. (left) being an ally of
Teodoro Sandiko (right) for the 1916 senatorial race, published September 16, 1916 In 1915, Sotto returned to Manila and begun work on a weekly journal he named
The Independent. He issued a special edition of this journal in Paris in 1929. The news item prompted an American senator to introduce a resolution in the United States Senate to grant immediate independence to the Philippines.
The Independent was initially launched by Sotto to advocate reform within the Nacionalista Party. One of its notable criticism made by the newspaper was about
Sergio Osmeña, leader of the Nacionalista Party, siding with Spain during the Philippine Revolution. The newspaper claimed that Osmeña dressed as a woman to escape the Filipino revolutionaries in Cebu City.
To Cebuano culture Sotto is regarded as the Father of
Cebuano language and letters. He is also considered the father of Cebuano journalism. Sotto published
Ang Suga, the first newspaper in Cebuano in 1900. Sotto's play
Paghigugma sa Yutang Natawhan (Love of Native Land), dramatized the Cebuano people's heroic struggle against Spanish feudal rule in the modern realist mode. He also wrote the first published Cebuano short story
Maming in the maiden issue of
Ang Suga. He wrote, directed, and produced the first Cebuano play
Elena, a play in three acts. It was first performed at the
Teatro Junquera on May 18, 1902. The play established Sotto's reputation as a playwright. The dedication of the play by the playwright reads, "To My Motherland, that you may have remembrance of the glorious Revolution that redeemed you from enslavement. I dedicate this humble play to you." ==Tributes to Sotto==