MANILA – The wife of former Iloilo City mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog urged President Rodrigo Duterte to move on and stop his tirades against her husband.
“Hidlaw ka gid kay Jed? Move on. Better yet, get a life. You’re fast running out of one,” Marivic wrote on Facebook yesterday.
Marivic’s statement came after President Duterte mentioned the former mayor during his Monday’s public address.
President Duterte said Jed was among those who were dismissed with finality by the Office of the Ombudsman for grave misconduct, serious dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of public service.
But the President, Marivic said, “has nothing on Jed except fabricated charges decided upon by spineless minions.”
“Pili kamo kon ano theme song ni Rodrigo para kay Jed. Hopelessly Devoted to You, I Will Always Love You, It Must Have Been Love (or) When Will I see You Again,” she stated in a separate post.
“Update: Hambal ni Digong most favorite song ya gid kuno para kay Jed Crazy for You,” she went on.
And as if further taunting Duterte, Marivic added: “Imagine yourself haunted in your dreams by Jed’s handsome boyish face then waking up with a mirror on your bedside table and looking back at you own face. You painfully got out of bed, stumbled towards the bathroom and in there is another mirror!”
Marivic also denied the news of the alleged response of the former Iloilo City mayor to President Duterte.
A news cable network sourced out its news story from a Twitter post that used the name of Jed Patrick Mabilog.
The cable news network used this quote: “You can destroy me all you want, but you could never deny the fact what Iloilo achieved together with the Ilonggos.”
Marivic clarified that her husband does not have a Twitter account.
Mabilog fled the country in August 2017 amid Duterte’s continued linking of the then mayor to illegal drugs.
While it was not specified what case led to Mabilog’s dismissal, the former mayor was dismissed by then Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales in 2018 over a towing deal way back in 2015.
The dismissal came with the accessory penalties of perpetual disqualification from holding public office, cancellation of eligibility, forfeiture of retirement benefits, and prohibition from taking the civil service examinations.
To recall, the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) of Iloilo City on April 8, 2014 enacted a towing ordinance that incorporated the use of a towing clamp.
On Feb. 17, 2015, Mabilog was authorized to enter into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on behalf of the Iloilo City government with the 3L Towing Services for the implementation of the ordinance.
The MOA was confirmed one week after but three days later, the former mayor through an urgent letter informed the SP of its suspension due to technical issues.
On May 19, 2015, Leny Garcia, proprietor of 3L, offered to withdraw from the MOA.
Mabilog was among the local officials previously tagged by President Duterte as involved in illegal drugs in 2016. He left the country in August 2017 and has not returned since.
Two months after, in October 2017, Mabilog was ordered dismissed from the service by the Ombudsman for “serious dishonesty relative to his unlawful acquisition of wealth.”
He was also perpetually disqualified from holding public office.
According to the Ombudsman, Mabilog failed to “properly account or explain his sources of income”, specifically the P8.9-million increase in the mayor’s wealth within one year from 2012 to 2013.
The mayor’s wealth, as stated in his 2013 Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN), was P68,341,622.40 – higher by P8,983,082.52 from his 2012 SALN of P59,358,539.89.
The complaint against Mabilog was filed by journalist and former Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel Mejorada in 2015. He claimed the increase in the mayor’s wealth was “grossly disproportionate to his legitimate income as a public official and businessman.”/PN