At last Thursday’s Quad Comm hearing, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) revealed that former Iloilo Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog was not initially included in the list of those who aided the illegal drug trade during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
PDEA officials said that Mabilog’s name was only included in the subsequent list of President Duterte and that it only issued an initial list containing 3,363 names and personalities linked to the drug trade. The number swelled to 6,191 when a second list was provided by Duterte and the list of PDEA was merged. It further increased to 6,221 because of the inclusion of other names, including Mabilog’s.
The PDEA further clarified that in paper, it was officially called the President’s drug list, which became known as the PRRD list. PDEA said that the second list obtained from the Office of the President dated August 29, 2017.
Mabilog denied any participation in the narcotics trade and claimed that he was only included in the list due to politics.
Former PNP Chief and now Senator Bato Dela Rosa called Mabilog and sympathized with him. However, Mabilog already had his hesitations on the truthfulness and sincerity of Bato’s call. Who wouldn’t have second thoughts on the intentions of Bato, knowing well his very close connection to then PRRD.
Bato is also known to be the first PNP chief under Duterte and the architec of the bloody war on drugs.
Mabilog said that moments later, another PNP official called him and said that he should not return to the Philippines because he would be forced to link personalities to the drug trade. These personalities were Mar Roxas and his cousin Franklin Drilon, the two opposition leaders and heads of the Liberal Party at that time.
Mabilog lived overseas for seven years due to fear that he may be killed. He recently returned to the Philippines to clear his name and narrate the kind of life he had to lead because of his inclusion in the former President’s narcolist.
Dela Rosa is discounting the testimony of Mabilog by saying it is all merely a fishing expedition and a demolition job by Duterte’s oppositionists.
However, it can also be seen as a move on the part of Bato to steer away the issue from him, being the chief implementor of Duterte’s war on drugs. He has to answer to the deaths perpetrated under his watch as PNP chief.
The issuance of the narcolist cannot be any more timely for Duterte. The list was made during the initial stages of his presidency, which was then able to condition the mind of Filipinos that he has a sacred mission to cleanse the country of its perennial drug problem.
