Marcos grants clemency to ex-Iloilo City mayor
- All administrative penalties, including a ban on public office, that the Ombudsman had meted on Mabilog for ill-gotten wealth have been extinguished by the presidential clemency.
- The ex-mayor fled the country in 2017 after his inclusion in the Duterte “narcolist.”
President Marcos has granted executive clemency to former Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, seven years after his dismissal from service due to alleged ill-gotten wealth.
In a resolution dated Jan. 15 but made public only on Monday, the Office of the President, through Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, heeded Mabilog’s petition for executive clemency and the removal of all administrative penalties meted against him in 2017, the same year he fled the country after being targeted by the bloody war on drugs initiated by the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
“In view of Mabilog’s long-standing commitment to good governance coupled with the awards and recognition received by Iloilo City under his leadership, this Office finds the grant of his petition warranted,” Bersamin said.
Mabilog was ordered dismissed from service by the Ombudsman in October 2017 over graft charges filed against him for unexplained wealth and alleged conflict of interest and was also perpetually disqualified to run for public office.
His dismissal stemmed from a complaint filed in 2013 by Manuel Mejorada, the former provincial administrator of Iloilo, who alleged that the former Iloilo City mayor committed acts of dishonesty and grave misconduct when he awarded a government contract to a towing services firm in which he and a former Iloilo City councilor had a vested interest.
According to Bersamin, the President found merit in Mabilog’s justification on why he failed to put up a defense on the charges lodged against him.
“[It was] because he was forced by circumstances to go to another jurisdiction and to stay away from the Philippines for some time and we found justification in his declarations,” Bersamin said.
According to Bersamin, executive clemency covers all administrative liabilities that Mabilog sought to be expunged and restores his political rights.
“The terms of the order do not cover all [pending cases],” he said.
ICC probe
The grant of executive clemency for Mabilog came five months after his return to the country after more than seven years of hiding in the United States.
Upon his return to the country in September last year, Mabilog revealed at the House quad committee probing Duterte’s drug war that there was an alleged scheme to force him to link former Senators Mar Roxas and Franklin Drilon to the illegal drug trade.
Mabilog also expressed his willingness to be a witness before the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the “war on drugs” and the extrajudicial killings allegedly carried out by the Duterte administration.
Officials of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency also told the House quad committee that Mabilog’s name was not on the initial list of police generals and government officials allegedly aiding drug lords and was included only in the list produced by Duterte.
Reward
In a statement, Salvador Panelo, Duterte’s former chief presidential legal counsel, branded Mabilog’s clemency as a “reward” for his adverse testimonies against the former president.
“The pardon granted Mabilog on his administrative case, obviously, is a reward for attacking and besmirching the integrity and reputation of former President Duterte, who is a critic of the administration,” he said.
But Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who had enforced Duterte’s antinarcotics campaign when he was named chief of the Philippine National Police in 2016, found nothing objectionable in President Marcos’ decision.
“His case is not drug-related, right? It’s an administrative case. So that’s OK with me,” Dela Rosa told reporters on Monday after hearing of Mabilog’s pardon.
“I don’t have any complaints with that. In fact, as I’ve said, as to the allegations linking him to illegal drugs, I was then very much willing to help him clear his name before [then] President Duterte,” he added.
Dela Rosa also acknowledged Mabilog’s efforts to rid Iloilo of illegal drugs during his term as mayor.
“But as to whether he had a hand in the proliferation of illegal drugs, I’m not so sure,” Dela Rosa said.
In a press conference in Iloilo City on Monday, Mabilog said he applied for clemency in September last year.
Mabilog said he received the executive clemency only last Jan. 24 and immediately arranged for a thanksgiving Mass at his residence on Monday morning.
Noncommittal
He recalled how emotional he was and how he held on to an image of the Our Lady of Guadalupe when his wife Marivic opened the envelope containing the President’s decision.
“Subong ko ma lang na realize nga may purpose gale ang pagpauli ko diri (Now, I realized that coming home had a purpose),” he said.
Asked what his plans are after receiving clemency, he said he would first go to Manila to thank President Marcos and the people who made it possible.
He also plans to help the entire slate of Iloilo’s Team Sulong Gugma in its election campaign and then go back to his private life for the next three years.
Mabilog remains noncommittal about his political future.
Mabilog was elected mayor in 2010, reelected in 2013 and was supposed to serve his third and last term until 2019. —WITH REPORTS FROM MARLON RAMOS AND INQUIRER RESEARCH
