A WEEPING former Iloilo City mayor Jed Mabilog faced on Thursday, September 19, 2024, the House of Representatives’ quad committee as he maintained his innocence on the accusations of former President Rodrigo Duterte that he was involved in the illegal drug trade.
During his appearance at the resumption of the House quad committee investigation on the possible link between the proliferation of illegal operations of Pogos, illegal drug trade, anomalous land acquisitions, and extrajudicial killings (EJKs) during the Duterte administration, Mabilog turned emotional as he narrated how he and his family live in “tremendous fear” over the past years that he had been repeatedly threatened to be killed by the former President after he was named as among the country’s narco-politicians.
Mabilog was in exile in the United States over the past seven years before his surrender to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on September 10. He was arrested over graft charges to which he posted bail.
He said he decided to submit himself to the authorities and take the ongoing investigation as an opportunity to clear his name.
“Una sa lahat [first of all], I declare that I was not, and never will be, a drug protector. I don’t know personally nor did I benefit in any way from any illegal drug personality in Iloilo or anywhere else,” said Mabilog.
Mabilog assumed that among the reasons of Duterte’s displeasure to him is because he was a relative of Senator Franklin Drilon of the Liberal Party and that Iloilo City is always being compared to the former President’s bailiwick, Davao City.
He said he was also being blamed by Duterte for the power interruption during his campaign activities in Iloilo City for the 2022 presidential elections.
Mabilog said he also failed to grant Duterte’s request for a meeting during the campaign sortie because he is attending an important meeting in Manila.
He also noted that Duterte only got 13.7 percent of the total number of votes in his city back in 2022. Former Interior and Local Government secretary Mar Roxas got the most votes in the presidential race during that time.
Mabilog said that after Duterte named him among the narco-politicians, he has been receiving numerous death threats.
In 2017, Mabilog said he went to Japan for an official speaking engagement and had never returned to the country due to the prevailing threats.
He said he was ordered to go to Camp Crame and meet then Philippine National Police (PNP) chief now Senator Ronald dela Rosa, but someone warned him and his wife that they will either be ambushed or be forced to tag Roxas and Drilon in the illegal drug trade.
“Using a public payphone (in Japan), I made a call and spoke to General Bato, who expressed his sympathy. He was talking to me in Bisaya. He told me he knew I was innocent, that I wasn’t involved in illegal drugs, and he promised to help me,” he said.
“Just after that call, my Philippine cellphone rang. This time, it was another general. His voice was grim: ‘Mayor, do not return. Your life is in danger. The accusations against you are all fabricated, but if you go to Crame, you’ll be forced to point fingers at an opposition senator and a former presidential candidate as drug lords,’” he added.
Mabilog said that despite all the accusations, the Duterte administration failed to file drug-related charges against him. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)
