[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’PEOPLE POWWOW ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY HERBERT VEGO
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
[/av_textblock]
[av_textblock size=’18’ font_color=” color=”]
THE office of Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, through spokesman Mark Piad, yesterday confirmed public suspicion that he could not yet come home to Iloilo City because of threat to his life. He is somewhere in an undisclosed foreign country.
As to who is the threat to the mayor’s life, it could be left unspoken; we all know.
The Facebook followers of President Rodrigo Duterte, also known as “Dutertards,” quickly insinuate, “If he’s not guilty, why is he afraid to come home?”
You don’t have to be guilty of a crime to fear for your life. In a country where the leader has no respect for the rule of law because he thinks he is the law, you don’t have to break the law to earn his ire. “Somebody” could kill somebody just for “thrill.”
What crime has Mabilog done to deserve the fate that befell the late Mayor Rolando Espinosa of Albuera, Leyte and the late Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog of Ozamiz City? He has not been charged of the crime the President imputed to him.
A source told this writer that one of the dossiers that reached Duterte was a newspaper clipping about a candidate for councilor of Iloilo City in 2013 who aired on radio the hearsay that Mabilog was getting a fat 50 percent share of a drug lord’s income.
Just because he is in “Duterte’s list” does not prove Mabilog guilty of illegal drug dealing or complicity with a drug dealer. Only a court of law has the power to try and convict an accused; but Mabilog is not even an accused.
To quote Article III, Sec. 1 of the Constitution (the Bill of Rights), “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.”
All right, there are photos of Mabilog in the company of suspected drugs. Does it prove “partnership” in crime? Any public official always gets the “risk” of being photographed with suspected criminals. Duterte has also rubbed elbows with them. One of his visitors in his first month as President, specifically on July 17, 2016, was a certain Peter Lim, a wedding “kumpare” who is suspected to be Cebu’s biggest drug lord. Their meeting broke into the front pages of the Manila newspapers.
That the President has damaged the reputation of the mayor without due process is libelous. Unfortunately for the mayor, the President is immune from suit while still in office.
He has said so many irresponsible statements that could put anybody in Mabilog’s shoes in distress. Let us recall two of them.
Not too long ago, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Special Order 8834 assigning Police Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido to Iloilo City. With that came his cryptic warning to 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 a speech at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City on Aug. 28, 2017 commemorating National Heroes Day, Duterte segued, “Espenido, where are you? You asked for the assignment in Leyte. You asked for another assignment in Ozamiz. Now, you want to be assigned to Iloilo because Mabilog has been identified as a protector-mayor. Will he remain alive?”
Duterte’s executive order transferring Chief Inspector Espenido from Ozamiz City to Iloilo City seemed like a cruel joke; not implementable, since the said police officer was two ranks lower than the required police director for the highly-urbanized Iloilo City.
But it has made Espenido look like a berdugo ready to kill Mayor Mabilog. (hvego31@gmail.com /PN)
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
