Former Iloilo City mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog has expressed his desire to return to the Philippines to clear his name after being tagged by former president Rodrigo Duterte as a drug protector.
“Simple lang po ang gusto ko. Gusto ko lang po umuwi, gusto lang namin ng peace,” Mabilog said in an exclusive interview with ANC (ABS-CBN News Channel).
The former mayor has been in self-imposed exile abroad for seven years. He left the country in August 2017 for a disaster management summit in Japan and an urban environment accords forum in Malaysia.
“There is this fear of my live and of my family. After God, it’s my family that matters most. So we’ve decided not to return until we could see that conditions were favorable and justice could be served, just like what is happening right now in Congress,” he said.
According to Mabilog, he had been invited to attend the House quadruple committee hearing on crimes linked to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), drug war deaths, and the illegal drug trade.
No charges were filed against the former mayor for his inclusion in the Duterte administration’s list of so-called “narco-politicians.”
“I was waiting for cases to be filed against me in terms of these drug related cases and until now there’s none because they have nothing against me,” Mabilog said.IMT
