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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Wednesday, august 2, 2017
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ILOILO City – Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog is not a drug lord and to say that he is the next “target” following the fatal raid on Ozamiz City’s Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. is speculative and even baseless, according to Councilor Plaridel Nava.
Nava, a staunch Mabilog critic, is on an extended vacation in Canada but defended Mabilog in a Facebook post.
“I don’t think Jed deserves to be killed in such a brutal manner. It cannot be justified,” Nava posted in the Facebook account “Pia Marylane Emerald.”
Councilor Joshua Alim, Nava’s ally, confirmed to Panay News that the Facebook account is Nava’s.
Parojinog, his wife and 12 others were riddled with bullets on Sunday night. Policemen claimed the mayor put up a fight.
“The way I understand it, only drug lords occupying elective offices are the main targets for assassination. And Jed is not a drug lord, we all know that,” stressed Nava.
Like Mabilog, Parojinog was also tagged by President Rodrigo Duterte as a drug protector like slain Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa.
Espinosa was shot dead by policemen who raided his detention cell in Baybay City, Leyte in November 2016.
According to the government, said Nava, Parojinog and Espinosa were certified drug lords for actively trafficking illegal drugs.
“I must say, in the name of truth and fairness, that never a time did Mayor Mabilog sell, trade or dispense illegal drugs to anyone. I made this clear during my testimony in the Senate inquiry (on illegal drugs in Iloilo City last December 2015). I testified then and I will say it again: Jed is not a drug lord, neither a drug pusher that would place him in equal footing with the likes of mayors Espinosa and Parojinog,” stressed Nava.
Mabilog’s liability, according to Nava, was the mayor’s “failure to address the drug menace as early as 2010, his inaction in the fight against illegal drugs and his friendship with known drug personalities in the city of Iloilo, which is tantamount to ‘drug protection.’”
Mabilog vehemently denied being involved in illegal drugs either as protector, user or pusher.
He also insisted that there had been no letup in the city government’s campaign against illegal drugs.
“I believe the national government is looking at the performance of the local government units of local chief executives who were linked to illegal drugs…if there are interventions introduced to stop drug trafficking,” he said.
Invoking his “clear conscience”, Mabilog said he was confident nothing bad wound happen to him.
“We are confident because nakita man ang syudad sang Iloilo sang national leaders, especially seguro nakalab-ot naman sa Presidente ang ginahimo naton sa syudad sang Iloilo kag nagasuporta kita sa iya mga programa kag sa iya mga panawagan,” said Mabilog.
Nava is hopeful that “nothing dreadful will happen to Iloilo City.”
“Let us continue to hope and pray…Let us support one another in the fight against illegal drugs,” he posted on Facebook.
In several speeches, President Duterte tagged Mabilog as a relative of slain Iloilo City suspected drug lord Melvin “Boyet” Odicta Sr.
Odicta and wife Meriam were shot to death by unidentified gunmen on Aug. 29, 2016 at the jetty port of Caticlan in Malay, Aklan some two weeks after Duterte tagged Mabilog a drug protector.
In Metro Manila, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald Dela Rosa said more Parojinog-like police operations will be conducted. Sunday’s Ozamiz raid, he said, should compel narco-politicians to surrender.
Mabilog said he leaves it up to the President to assess if the city government is truly supportive of the campaign against illegal drugs.
“Here in Iloilo City, we have not been negligent. Our campaign against drug trafficking is nonstop. For one year, todo-todo ang kampanya naton bangod sa aton pagsuporta, pagsabat sa panawagan sang Presidente,” said Mabilog.
Aside from supporting PDEA and the police logistically, the mayor said, the city government also established drug rehabilitation centers and designed livelihood and skills training programs for drug surrenderers./PN
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