ILOILO, Philippines – Of the many revelations of Police Colonel Jovie Espenido related to the controversial drug war policy of then-president Rodrigo Duterte during the House mega-panel’s hearing on Wednesday, August 28, one would likely prod former Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog to come out of hiding.

Espenido said during the hearing of the so-called quad committee that during the Duterte administration the bulk of supply of illegal drugs (shabu) in Iloilo and Iloilo City came from Bacolod City.

House Minority Leader, Abang Lingkod Representative Stephen Paduano, who was questioning Espenido, as well as the rest of the panel, was surprised by the revelation.

Paduano, a Bacoleño himself, said Espenido’s testimony was enough reason for Mabilog to surface and clear his name.

“He (Mabilog) needs to speak before the quad committee hearing. We’re willing to have him in the hearing the soonest time,” Paduano told Rappler on Thursday, August 29.

Paduano said Mabilog might just be a “victim” of a false accusation. And likewise, Iloilo City has been the wrongfully branded by Duterte as the “most shabulized city” in the country.

Paduano added he was willing to meet Mabilog “in the flesh” at a House hearing sooner or later.

Espenido said, during the Wednesday’s hearing: “Nag-gawa ako ng investigation sa Iloilo and really, I found out na hindi from Iloilo ang source ng drugs, from Bacolod. Kaya pagkatapos ng Iloilo, pinapunta na ako ng Bacolod ( I made an investigation in Iloilo and really, I found out that Iloilo was not the source of drugs, from Bacolod. So, after Iloilo, I was sent to Bacolod).

Espenido was briefly assigned at Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO)  in 2019. His designation as deputy director of BCPO was effective October 4, 2019, but in February of the following year, or exactly after five months, he was relieved from his post.

When asked at the House hearing who tasked him to probe drug cases in City Iloilo when was still at BCPO, Espenido replied it was former Police Regional Office 6 (Western Visayas) director, now retired Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan.

Pamuspusan retired in December 2020. He can not be reached for comment as of press time.

Meanwhile, Mabilog suffered tremendously during Duterte’s incumbency. The former Iloilo City mayor’s image and credibility were tarnished as the Duterte associated him with illegal drugs.

Duterte labelled Mabilog as protector of illegal drugs syndicates in Western Visayas, an accusation the former mayor repeatedly debunked.

Mabillog fled the country in August 2017 for fear for his life and family.

For seven years, Ilonggos just kept quiet until Iloilo City Representative Julienne Baronda made noise at the quad comm hearing in Pampanga on August 15 by  simply asking both the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for relevant data to substantiate the previous claim of Duterte her city.

She wanted to know the basis of the former president to brand Iloilo City as the “most shabulized” in the country.

Baronda also said it was time their former mayor to go home to also clear his name. She added Mabilog had already signified his intention to return.

Mabilog’s looming homecoming became the talk-of-the-town in Iloilo City after former senator Leila de Lima announced in publicly on Wednesday, August 28, that she is more than willing to help the former mayor.

De Lima, in an interview with Iloilo-based Daily Guardian, said, “Of course [I will be willing to help him]. If he wants to talk to me I can talk to him, because he also has his own story to tell, I have my story to tell—I was also a victim of persecution and I have experienced something similar… I am very much willing to sit down with him.”

Meanwhile, Paduano said after Mabilog, he also wants to go deeper on probing Espenido’s statement that supplies of shabu for Iloilo City came from Bacolod.

Paduano said there were also other prominent personalities in Bacolod who were “victimized” by Duterte’s drug on war, and they needed to clarify the illegal matter in his city once and for all. – Rappler.com