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BY PRINCE GOLEZ, Manila Reporter
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Friday, April 7, 2017
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MANILA – In a speech before the League of Government Prosecutors, President Rodrigo Duterte again linked Iloilo City mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog to illegal drugs.
He also took a swipe at slain Iloilo suspected drug lord Melvin “Boyet” Odicta Sr. and wife Meriam.
“And the Odicta couple, ‘yung pinsan ni Mabilog. ‘Yun sinabi ko sa inyo na pinaka. ‘Yung sabagay pinaka ‘yun lang,” Duterte said on Wednesday, referring to his previous statement that Iloilo was the “most shabu-lized” in the country.
This was the sixth time Duterte shamed Mabilog in a public speech. He first did this during a speech at Camp Panacan, Davao City in August last year. He said Mabilog was a coddler of illegal drug traffickers.
Prior to mentioning the Odictas and Mabilog, Duterte criticized human rights experts who have condemned his administration’s aggressive war on drugs.
“Sabihin ng human rights (advocates) na 10,000 (were killed in the anti-drugs campaign). That’s a shit! In the wake of the drug contamination, 77,000 deaths (were) drug-related. Who will answer for that? Who will take the cudgels for those innocent young women raped. ‘Yung mga holdup sa truck, jeep. Sino mananagot nito?” said the former Davao City mayor.
On Tuesday, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the result of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6’s investigation on Mabilog was yet to reach Duterte.
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 Abella.
Mabilog, now serving his third and final term as Iloilo City mayor, has persistently denied having links to illegal drugs.
He said he would be writing 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.
In January, the President said Mabilog was 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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