ILOILO CITY — Former Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog maintained that the executive clemency granted by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is a vindication to him and this city.
MABILOG (Tara Yap)
“This is not about me. This is about God and Iloilo City,” Mabilog said.
The presidential pardon covered administrative penalties imposed against him during the term of President Rodrigo Duterte who tagged Iloilo City as "shabulized" or teeming with shabu.
The complaint of unexplained wealth was filed by a former provincial official when Duterte was stepping up accusations that Mabilog was a protector of a major drug syndicate.
At the height of the verbal attacks, Duterte repeatedly accused Mabilog of amassing ill-gotten wealth as a narco-politician.
Duterte claimed that Mabilog’s house in Iloilo City is a mansion bigger than Malacañang.
Mabilog reiterated that what happened during the Duterte presidency not only affected him, but also Iloilo City — the regional capital of Western Visayas.
With the presidential pardon, Mabilog said that the Marcos administration was able to see how Iloilo City was when he was mayor.
The presidential pardon cited that Iloilo City was feted by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for its anti-drug programs in 2016, the same year Durtere became president.
The clemency also cited the various accolades of Iloilo City when Mabilog was mayor such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as a Livable City, the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Red Orchid Award by the Department of Health (DOH).