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BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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Friday, September 8, 2017
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MANILA – The wife of Iloilo City mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog has confirmed she and her two children have left the Philippines.
“Although it pains me to disclose that I brought the children out of the country because it could imperil their security, I am confirming that we are abroad,” Maria Victoria “Marivic” Mabilog told Panay News yesterday through the internet.
President Rodrigo Duterte has been increasingly critical of Mrs. Mabilog’s husband in recent weeks.
“As a mother, I must instinctively do everything to protect my family, especially the children,” according to Mrs. Mabilog. “I must shield and protect them at all cost. Please understand. I need to do everything to protect our children.”
Mayor Mabilog mayor is being linked by the President to illegal drugs as protector, a charge that the mayor has vehemently denied.
Mrs. Mabilog, who had worked in Canada for many years, begged off from disclosing their location.
Hours before she made the confirmation, Malacañang revealed Mayor Mabilog and his wife left the country for Narita, Japan on the same day, Aug. 31, but took separate flights.
The mayor’s city hall staff clarified Mabilog attended an international conference on disaster management in Japan last week then proceeded to Malaysia for another summit on sustainable urban development.
A Facebook post of Mrs. Mabilog on Wednesday read: “One should not allow a rabid dog to go on rampage and to threaten your own peace without protecting yourself.”
Last week National Bureau of Investigation operatives entered the Mabilog compound in Molo, Iloilo City after the President ordered a lifestyle check.
In a televised press briefing in Malacañang yesterday, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said Bureau of Immigration records showed Mayor Mabilog taking Flight PR 428 to Japan while his wife, Flight PR 432.
“The safety of my kids is paramount amid this chaos and real threat,” according to Mrs. Mabilog yesterday.
Abella said Mrs. Mabilog was a Canadian citizen but made no mention of the Mabilog couple’s two children.
The Department of Justice was verifying reports on the whereabouts of the Mabilogs, he said.
Mayor Mabilog’s spokesperson Atty. Mark Piad said on Wednesday the Iloilo City chief executive was “expected to return anytime soon.” He dismissed insinuations that the mayor was fleeing the country.
The three-day Malaysia summit started yesterday and would end on Sept. 9.
A cryptic part of Mrs. Mabilog’s Facebook post on Sept. 1 read: “This was the longest 32 hours. At first I said to myself we don’t deserve this.”
“All we really just wanted was to make Iloilo better and every Ilonggo proud of their own city. We gave our all and more,” she further stated.
The mayor’s wife hinted having gotten help from concerned “people in our circle.”
“But looking back, recalling every second of the last 30 hours, I got to know real people at their very best. I got to realize that indeed, there are people in our circle willing to risk their lives, career, well-being and safety so that we get to live another day,” she stated.
October last year, the Mabilog couple opened their 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 the mayor 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 from the Duterte Cabinet of then Interior secretary Ismael Sueno in April this year.
There were claims P50 million was spent for Mabilog’s house. According to Mrs. Mabilog, 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 Wednesday last week.
According to Mabilog, his wife made “wise investments” that were reported in her income tax returns.
President Duterte likened the Mabilog house to a palace./PN
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