BACOLOD, Philippines – Eight years after Iloilo was labeled by former president Rodrigo Duterte as having the worst drug problem in the country due to the alleged involvement of local politicians, its officials are now urging law enforcement to set the record straight.
Iloilo City Representative Julienne Baronda called on the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to release records of all cities and provinces in the country with high rates of illegal drug activity, as well as a list of prominent individuals suspected of involvement in the drug trade.
Iloilo Councilor Romel Duron said on Monday, August 19, that the city suffered negative impacts after Duterte labeled Iloilo as the “most shabulized” area in the country without providing sufficient proof.
Duron said the drug problem in the city and province was exaggerated at the expense of the reputation of Iloilo. He said other cities and provinces in the country were facing similar challenges.
“The label was too much. It’s unfair for us Ilonggos,” he said.
Brigadier General Jack Wanky, director of PNP in Western Visayas, said on Monday their records suggest the label was likely false.
Wanky noted that compared to other cities, Iloilo City ranks low in terms of illegal drug apprehensions.
“It might just be a perception, but it’s different from the reality. Based on our records, Iloilo doesn’t deserve such a title,” Wanky said.
Before the House joint hearing of the House committees on dangerous drugs, public order and safety, human rights, and public accounts in Pampanga on Friday, August 16, Baronda said the PNP and PDEA should clear Iloilo unless they could present data that would show otherwise.
The label was made by Duterte at the start of his bloody war on drugs, accusing prominent people in Western Visayas, including then-Iloilo Mayor Jed Mabilog, of links to drug syndicates.
Baronda offered to talk Mabilog into returning to the country so he could clear his name once and for all.
Mabilog, a cousin of former senator Franklin Drilon who backed Liberal Party (LP) standard bearer Mar Roxas in the 2016 presidential race against Duterte, left for Canada in 2017 after attending programs in Japan and Malaysia. He and his family never returned after Duterte threatened him with the same fate as other mayors killed in the drug war.
Duterte lost in Iloilo province and Iloilo City – dubbed as “Roxas country” – in the 2016 presidential election.
In 2017, the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed Mabilog over allegations of unexplained wealth, and then issued a second dismissal order the following year. However, in 2021, the Court of Appeals overturned the Ombudsman’s ruling in an administrative case against him.
Baronda said the label put by Duterte on Iloilo stigmatized Ilonggos.
“This is definitely not true,” the Iloilo legislator told the joint hearing of the House committees.
She sought the PNP’s and PDEA’s lists of local politicians suspected to be involved in the illegal drug trade in 2017, saying their records would put to rest the allegations against Mabilog.
“The Ilonggos have been asking me about former Mayor Mabilog whenever I visit the barangays because they know he is innocent. The Ilonggos also want to set the record straight: we have drug cases, but these were not as massive as portrayed. We are not the ‘most shabulized city.’ I only want justice and the truth for our city,” Baronda said.
She said Duterte was likely misinformed, and “that is why I sought proof or records from our law enforcement agencies.” – Rappler.com