ILOILO CITY — Rep. Julienne “Jamjam” Baronda here refuted allegations made by Mayor Jerry Treñas that she did nothing when then President Rodrigo Duterte tagged the city as the most “shabulized" locality in the country.
REP. Julienne 'Jamjam' Baronda and Mayor Jerry Treñas of Iloilo City. (Office of Congresswoman Baronda)
“As the congressman in 2017, Mayor Treñas had the sworn duty and moral responsibility to defend the city and its people,” Baronda said in a statement.
“There was no effort, not even a single word was used to defend the city from the unfair tag,” added Baronda.
Baronda made the statement after Treñas criticized her statements during an August 16 congressional hearing on the Duterte drug war that tarnished the image of the city while resulting in the exile of former Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog who was then being threatened by Duterte that he will be killed.
In that congressional hearing, Baronda defended Iloilo City and said she might be able to convince Mabilog to come back to the country and shed light.
Treñas accused Baronda of not doing anything to help the city or Mabilog at the height of the attack of Duterte.
In 2017, Treñas was serving his third and final term as congressman while Baronda was not an elected official and was working for the office of Sen. JV Ejercito.
Treñas also claimed it should have been Baronda who should have helped the city and Mabilog because he claimed Baronda was close to the Duterte political family.
The Iloilo City mayor was the first Ilonggo official to have bolted the Liberal Party (LP) and joined the ruling PDP-Laban when Durterte became president in 2016.
This is the latest development in the political rift between Baronda and Treñas who has openly campaigned for his daughter Raisa to replace Baronda as congresswoman in the May 2025 elections.