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BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte confirmed having ordered a lifestyle check on Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog of Iloilo City.
At the oath-taking of Philippine National Police’s star rank officers in Malacañang yesterday, Duterte said, “Ang bahay niya talagang pinasilip ko sa mga NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) pati BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue).”
The President accused Mabilog of being a drug coddler but the mayor denied this.
Built along the Iloilo River in Molo district, Mabilog’s residence was “like a palace,” he said.
“Anak siguro ito talaga ng mayamang-mayaman,” added Duterte.
On Monday, the President warned Mabilog to cut his ties with drug traffickers. He said the mayor was still in his updated list of narco-politicians.
“Mabilog sent word that he wants to talk to me. I have some lifestyle check on him,” said Duterte yesterday.
Reacting to the lifestyle check, Mabilog said, “I can assure the President not a single centavo of dirty money was spent for this home.”
NOTHING TO HIDE
“I have nothing to hide. My house, while often described as a palace, is not quite a palace. The land or compound on which our circa 1800s ancestral home stands was inherited and the house was built on a more or less 200-square meter portion. It is not as big as pictures would make it appear,” he said.
October last year, Mabilog opened his house to the local media in an effort to dispel insinuations of corruption or drug money used. The Department of Interior and Local Government’s Task Force Agila was then investigating him and other local government officials that Duterte linked to illegal drugs. Before the task force was able to complete its investigation, however, it was dissolved following the firing of then Interior secretary Ismael Sueno in April this year.
There were claims Mabilog spent P50 million for his residence. According to his wife Marivic, however, it cost “a little less than P8 million.”
“Modesty aside, I and my wife were already running a number of businesses before I joined politics. I was already living a comfortable life in Manila as an entrepreneur when I came home to run for city councilor. I didn’t become rich because of politics, much unlike many politicians,” said Mabilog.
Mabilog served as city councilor from 2004 to 2007 and vice mayor from 2007 to 2010. He was elected mayor in 2010 and reelected in 2013 and 2016.
OMBUDSMAN CASE
March last year, the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas approved the filing of charges against Mabilog for unexplained wealth, noting that a lifestyle check indicated possible violations of Republic Act 1379 (Unexplained Wealth Act).
In a 16-page report, the Ombudsman-Visayas noted that Mabilog’s net worth nearly tripled in just one year when he was vice mayor, out of proportion to his lawful income.
According to Mabilog, his wife worked in Canada for many years. She made “huge sacrifices” and “wise investments” that were reported in her income tax returns, he said.
“Kamo mismo maka-validate kon amo gid man ang presyo sang balay, kon amo gid man na kadako ang balay,” Mabilog told journalists in October.
The mayor and his wife toured journalists in and around their white-painted, two-storey residence.
“Everybody dreams of building a beautiful home. Marivic and I built one not only for ourselves but for our children. And I had hoped to plant seeds of inspiration among Ilonggos that through hard work, they, too, like Jed Mabilog, can achieve their dreams,” stressed Mabilog yesterday.
The mayor said he was sad that what he had hoped to be a dream home “caused a nightmare experience for me and my family.”
Mabilog’s residence was completed in 2015 after three years of construction. The ground floor served as receiving area for guests.
The second floor was where the Mabilogs’ living room was located. A few steps from it were the dining area and kitchen.
The couple’s bedroom was also on the second floor.
The “tore-tore” (tower) had two small rooms for the couple’s two children.
According to the mayor’s wife, their residence may have been perceived by critics as a mansion because of its design, pointing to what she called a “tore-tore.”
But it was not out of caprice that the residence was designed with such, she said.
The “tore-tore” was built to maintain the “civil integrity” of the residence, she explained.
“Kay ang building is on a soft structure. We live by the river, daw banting na siya, daw pareho na sa suspension bridge. Kita n’yo na mga banting to stabilize the structure? Amo na kon nga-a may tore-tore. Mabutang na man lang sang taas, so panamion mo na lang, aesthetics-wise kag mapuslan,” she explained./PN
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