President Marcos challenged “anybody” to investigate the legal process undertaken for the preventive suspension of Davao del Norte Gov. Edwin Jubahib, who cried foul over the Office of the President’s (OP) two-month suspension.
(From left) President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. and Davao del Norte Gov. Edwin Jubahib. (Photos from the Presidential Communications Office, Gov. Jubahib's Facebook page)
The Chief Executive maintained that the cases filed against the governor have been long pending even before he took office.
“Matagal na yan (That was a long time ago). And so it’s taking close to two years because it went through the process,” he told reporters during a media interview in Washington D.C., where he attended the tripartite summit with the United States and Japan.
“So I’m confident, let anybody investigate. You. Kayo ‘yung mga abogado ninyo, papuntahin niyo, tingnan n’yo iyong records namin kung anong nangyari (Your lawyers, let them come, check our records about what happened),” he said.
Marcos stressed that he only learned about Jubahib’s cases last year and was not aware that these cases existed.
“I learned about it a year ago as part of my briefer, my daily briefer. So, I’m very sure we did all of, we went through all of the checks and balances,” he said.
“We went through all the procedures, the proper procedures, before we came to the decision. Before the DILG came to the decision of imposing a suspension,” the President added.
Jubahib’s suspension was a result of a complaint filed by Board Member Orly Amit, who accused the governor of grave abuse of authority and oppression after the governor took a capitol-owned vehicle assigned to the board member and reassigned it to the Provincial Engineering Office.
The vehicle was assigned back to Amit after a month.
The governor refused to follow the suspension order issued by Malacañang and said his suspension was a form of political harassment.
Jubahib, who was a political underdog that won the gubernatorial race in Davao del Norte in 2019, claimed that the Palace’s decision was heavily influenced by his political enemies in the province, particularly Special Assistant to the President Antonio Lagdameo Jr.
His 2019 victory defeated Rodolfo “Rodney” del Rosario Jr. whose family has ruled in the province for decades.