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[av_heading heading=’DU30 TO JED: ‘YOU’RE NEXT’ What’s the President up to? Mabilog’s return uncertain ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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Thursday, October 26, 2017
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MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has another stern warning to Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog: “You’re next.”
The President issued the warning yesterday at the commemorative session and concert program of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Law Association in Malacañang.
“The mayor of Iloilo City, I identified him. This was broadcast. I said, ‘You are next. You’re next,” said Duterte.
It was unclear what the President meant. Mabilog is currently on an extended sick leave abroad. None from his camp would say where he is exactly.
According to the President, he had repeatedly warned Mabilog to cut his ties with illegal drug personalities.
August last year, Duterte accused Mabilog of being an illegal drug protector, a charge that the mayor vehemently denied.
The President recalled an instance when he warned Mabilog – during meeting with all of the country’s mayors in Malacañang in January this year.
“I called for them in this room in three batches,” said Duterte.
Mabilog attended the meeting, and so were Albuera, Leyte’s Mayor Rolando Espinosa and Ozamiz City’s Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr.
Espinosa and Parojinog were publicly accused by Duterte of being involved in drug trafficking.
Espinosa died in a police operation in Nov. 5, 2016 in Leyte. Eight months after, on July 30, 2017, Parojinog was killed in a police raid of his properties in Ozamiz City.
“I said, ‘You be careful’. I said, ‘Do not do it because I will go after you. And probably if I have to kill you, I will kill you’,” the President said, recalling his warning to all the mayors.
Mabilog’s extended sick leave is ending this Oct. 30. It remains unclear if he is returning to the country. He left on Aug. 30 for international conferences in Japan and Malaysia and had not returned, opting instead to file for a sick leave through city hall subordinates.
Mabilog’s spokesperson, Atty. Mark Piad, told Panay News yesterday he was not sure of the mayor’s return.
Reacting to the President’s latest statement on Mabilog, Piad said, “We leave it to the sound discretion of the President on what he meant that Mayor Mabilog is next.”
In a speech at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City on Aug. 28, 2017 commemorating National Heroes Day, Duterte publicly warned Mabilog, “Now, while nothing is happening, you might want to end your drug connections. Just be a drug lord. You’ll earn billions. But in exchange, you’ll die. Let’s not kid around.”
In that same occasion, Duterte announced the reassignment of Ozamiz City police director Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido to Iloilo City.
Two days after, Mabilog and wife Maria Victoria flew to Japan. They took separate flights, Bureau of Immigration records showed.
Espinido was the one who led the raid that led to Parojinog’s killing. His Iloilo reassignment, however, did not push through. According to the official explanation from the Philippine National Police, he still had unfinished tasks in Ozamiz City.
According to Duterte, it was Espenido himself who asked for an Iloilo assignment. The President had branded Iloilo the “most shabulized” and “bedrock” of illegal drugs.
“Mabuhay kaya siya? Gusto ko nang tanungin kasi ako naman ang pagbibintangan. Ikaw ang nagbaril diyan tapos ako ang mapa-publish kung saan-saan,” said Duterte after announcing Espinido’s Iloilo City reassignment.
Mabilog denied being involved in illegal drugs either as protector, user or pusher. He also insisted that there had been no letup in the city government’s campaign against illegal drugs.
Invoking his “clear conscience”, Mabilog said he was confident nothing bad wound happen to him./PN
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