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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Thursday, September 7, 2017
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ILOILO City – Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog is indeed out of the country but he is not fleeing the Philippines, stressed the city chief executive’s spokesperson.
Mabilog, accused by President Rodrigo Duterte of being a drug protector, is currently on official travel approved by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), according to Atty. Mark Piad.
“Mayor Mabilog did not flee. He’s on official travel in the performance of his function,” stressed Piad.
Mabilog is now in Malaysia attending the three-day 2017 Urban Environment Accords Summit and “he’s expected to return anytime soon,” he stressed.
On Monday, Duterte erroneously claimed Mabilog “escaped” to Japan and was “living luxuriously” there.
Mabilog attended a conference on disaster management in Japan organized last week by Citynet Yokohama Project Office, a regional network of local authorities helping local governments improve the sustainability of human settlements.
From Japan, the mayor proceeded to Malaysia, said Piad.
He showed a copy of Mabilog’s Foreign Travel Authority issued by DILG’s Undersecretary Austere Panadero on Aug. 17. It covered three days – Sept. 7 to 9.
The summit in Malaysia kicks off today, Sept. 7 and will run until Sept. 9 at A’ Famosa Resort Hotel, Alor Gajah, Melaka, said Piad.
Details about the Malaysia event can be read at the web site of the 2017 Urban Environment Accords Summit, he added.
Mabilog is one of the speakers on the summit’s third day. He will share with mayors from other parts of the world Iloilo City’s program on the protection and preservation of the Iloilo River, said Piad.
In the Japan conference, Mabilog was with the chief of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, Donna Magno; and the head of the newly created Public Safety and Traffic Management Office, Jeck Conlu who used to head the Iloilo Urban Poor Affairs Office.
On Tuesday, Malacañang defended Duterte from criticism over his remark that Mabilog had fled to Japan.
“The President has his own understanding of the situation,” said Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella.
He also said Duterte has his own sources of information.
The President has been increasingly critical of Mabilog. Last week, he ordered a lifestyle check on the mayor.
Well-meaning friends have been urging the mayor to take a leave of absence while the situation is “still very hot.”
“Maybe he can have at least one month vacation anywhere in the world just to calm down the situation and to allow any investigating agency to do appropriate steps – without violating his rights – to clear up matters,” said Julienne Baronda, former city councilor and a close friend of the mayor.
Mabilog also shot down resignation as an option.
“Mahapos lang tani para sa akon, pwede na lang ko tani maka-resign para magtawhay na lang ang aton nga syudad para…I don’t know kun ano matabo,” he told city government employees on Aug. 29
But, he said, “I have the mandate of the Ilonggos to serve as mayor until 2019.”
“I will stay because first and foremost, I have never protected anyone in illegal drugs or even in any form of criminality,” said Mabilog.
He addressed the President’s accusation squarely.
“Wala ko may natawgan maskin sin-o nga indi sya pagtandogon or indi sya pagdakpon or kun madakpan sya, pag gwaon. Wala gid. Never,” he insisted.
Mabilog also said he had never been a drug user or addict, or pusher.
“I have never used maskin isa, maskin elementary, high school, college, maskin professional na ko, wala gid ko katilaw sang ilegal nga droga. Kag wala gid ko kaagi baligya, wala ko kakilala ano tsura niya na,” he said./PN
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