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BY PRINCE GOLEZ, Manila Reporter
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MANILA – After a long silence, Ilonggo Senate Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon finally came to the defense of Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog of Iloilo City.
“Wala pong pruwebang ipinakita na si (there is no proof that) Mayor Mabilog ay involved sa droga,” the senator said.
Drilon and Mabilog were second cousins.
In August, President Rodrigo Duterte tagged Mabilog and several other Iloilo mayors as coddlers of drug traffickers.
“With the social media today, kung sasabihin mong ang tao ay may pagkukulang lalo na sa ganitong maselan na bagay, sana naman may matibay na ebidensya,” Drilon told Metro Manila journalists.
While the senator acknowledged the country’s problem on illegal drugs, the killing of drug suspects will not solve it, the senator also said.
“It’s a question of what kind of policies or remedy should be adopted to solve this problem,” stressed Drilon.
Mabilog has time and again denied any involvement in illegal drugs either as protector, pusher or user.
“My programs against illegal drugs since I became mayor have always been consistent,” said Mabilog.
The mayor said he supports the President’s campaign against illegal drugs.
“I fully understand his determination to defeat the menace. It is very unfortunate and disconcerting that my name is linked and included in the list,” said Mabilog right after Duterte named and shamed him.
December last year at a Senate inquiry on illegal drugs here, estranged political ally Councilor Plaridel Nava also linked Mabilog to illegal drugs.
The local chief executive asked for a speedy investigation. He wanted to clear his name, he said.
The Department of Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) Task Force Agila is investigating Mabilog.
Task Force Agila, chaired by DILG undersecretary John Castriciones was created in August as a legal and investigatory task force.
According to Ilonggo Interior and Local Government secretary Ismael Sueno, Task Force Agila handles the investigation of all past and incumbent local public officials with alleged links to illegal drugs.
The task force takes charge of the reception of evidence, documentation, strategy, case determination and case development against local public officials who have been and will be publicly named by President Duterte as involved in illegal drugs.
The said public officials, Sueno said, will be known as “persons of interest.”
Aside from Mabilog, other Ilonggo mayors Duterte linked to illegal drugs were Alex Centena of Calinog town, Siegfredo Betita of Carles, Mariano Malones of Maasin, and Mayor Julius Ronald Pacificador of Hamtic, Antique. They all denied the President’s allegation./PN
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