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BY PRINCE GOLEZ, Manila Reporter
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Wednesday, April 5, 2017
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MANILA – The result of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6’s investigation on Iloilo City’s Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog has yet to reach President Rodrigo Duterte, said a Malacañang official.
PDEA’s regional office has not found evidence linking Mabilog to illegal drugs.
“Ang tanong po ninyo if it has been relayed to the President? We don’t have information on that,” said Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella yesterday.
The President has repeatedly accused Mabilog of coddling illegal drug traffickes.
Abella said Mabilog was not discussed during Duterte’s Cabinet meeting on Monday.
Assistant Regional Director Levi Ortiz said that as far as PDEA-6 was concerned, “wala tayong nakitang sapat na dahilan or evidence to link Mayor Mabilog to the illegal drug trade.”
Because of this, he said, Mabilog was not part of “those now under investigation ng PDEA. Wala ang pangalan n’ya.”
“We don’t have a word on that po kung if they…hindi siya napag-usapan kagabi,” the Palace spokesperson told Panay News.
Mabilog, now serving his third and final term as Iloilo City mayor, has persistently denied having links to illegal drugs.
“All my public servant’s life I have been doing my best to serve my constituents well and in accordance with my mandate to bring positive change that would make lives better,” he told Panay News.
Abella did not say what will happen to the Department of Interior and Local Government’s Task Force Agila investigation on Mabilog now that the President has sacked Secretary Ismael Sueno.
Sueno was fired on Monday night during the Cabinet meeting.
Mabilog said he planned to write Duterte.
“Because I’ve been named, it’s important to prove to the President that the information he had on me is not true,” he said.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod also agreed to inform the President of Mabilog’s programs and projects supportive of the campaign against illegal drugs.
August last year, Duterte accused Mabilog and three other Iloilo mayors – Mariano Malones of Maasin, Sigfriedo Betita of Carles and Alex Centena of Calinog – of protecting illegal drug syndicates.
All the mayors denied this.
In January, the President said Mabilog waas a relative of slain suspected Iloilo City drug lord Melvin Odicta Sr.
“Not true. Indi man kami paryentihanay (That isn’t true. We’re not relatives),” said Mabilog./PN
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