Philippines’ Marcos grants clemency to ex-mayor linked to drug trade by Duterte

Jed Patrick Mabilog, the former mayor of Iloilo City, had been named on a list of “narco-politicians” suspected of links to the narcotics trade.
Jason Gutierrez and Jeoffrey Maitem
2025.01.27
Manila
Philippines’ Marcos grants clemency to ex-mayor linked to drug trade by Duterte Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog (right) testifies before a hearing at the House of Representatives on the Duterte administration’s drug war, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Sept. 19, 2024.
House of Representatives of the Philippines

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. granted executive clemency to a former city mayor whose name was on ex-leader Rodrigo Duterte’s list of so-called “narco-politicians” and who testified recently against Duterte over his administration’s bloody crackdown on illegal drugs. 

Jed Patrick Mabilog, the former mayor of Iloilo City in the central Philippines, was granted clemency by Marcos after he had fled the country over a death threat made by Duterte. Mabilog was on a list of mayors with suspected drug links that was circulated during the Duterte administration (2016-2022). 

Some of them ended up being gunned down. After one of the politicians on the list, Reynaldo Parojinog, the mayor of Ozamiz city in the south, was killed in a gun attack in July 2017, Duterte publicly stated that he had warned politicians who were named to cut their alleged links with the drug trade.     

Duterte’s supporters described the clemency for Mabilog as a “reward” by Marcos for the former mayor’s testimony before congressional hearings late last year. 

Marcos granted Mabilog’s “petition for executive clemency in connection with his administrative case, thereby removing the penalties or disabilities resulting from such [a] case,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin announced in a statement Monday.

This means Mabilog, who served as mayor of Iloilo for three terms, can run for public office again. 

Under Duterte’s term, the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed Mabilog for allegedly violating a rule that barred public officials from having a financial interest in businesses. That stemmed from a complaint filed by a political rival who had accused Mabilog of grave misconduct over a government project.

Mabilog, a staunch Duterte critic, was named by the former president as one of the more than 150 mayors, governors, judges and military and police officers who were  allegedly receiving money from drug traffickers. 

No charges however were filed against Mabilog in connection with illegal drugs.

rodrigo-duterte-senate-drug-war 2.jpg
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he attends a Senate probe on the drug war during his administration, Manila, 28, 2024. [Jam Sta Rosa/AFP]

Critics accused Duterte of also using the anti-drug campaign to silence political opponents and critics.

In the 2016 elections, Mabilog supported Mar Roxas, a rival candidate of Duterte, for the presidency.

In June 2018, following the killing of Ozamiz Mayor Parojinog, Duterte said he had warned Mabilog of his alleged drug links.

“It’s Mabilog. I warned him repeatedly, that you know ... After the death of Parojinog, he asked if I was still angry at him. I said, not just angry. You [expletive]. I will kill you,” Duterte said in a speech during the inauguration of an airport in Cebu.

Mabilog, who had repeatedly denied his links to drug suspects, slipped out of the Philippines in 2017 and sought asylum in the United States. He flew home late last year and testified before a congressional committee against Duterte and his drug war, which left some 8,000 Filipinos dead, including suspected drug dealers and addicts.

During the hearing, Mabilog testified that he had been pressured by Duterte’s government to implicate opposition figures, including former Sen. Frank Drilon and Roxas as illegal drug protectors.

“I was not, and never will be, a drug protector,” Mabilog said then, as he denied personally knowing “any illegal drug personality.” 

In a statement Monday, he said the granting of clemency vindicated his name.

“This administration upholds justice, which people like me, who are unjustly accused, can somehow be confident to avail themselves of vindication,” he said.

“This incredible news represents not only a new chapter for Mayor Mabilog and his family but also validation for those who believed in justice and second chances,” said Jeric Jucaban, Mabilog’s lawyer.

But Salvador Panelo, Duterte’s former chief presidential legal counsel, criticized Marcos’ clemency of Mabilog. 

“The pardon granted Mabilog on his administrative [case], obviously, is a reward for attacking and besmirching the integrity and reputation of former Rodrigo Roa Duterte, who is a critic of the administration,” Panelo said.


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Meanwhile, a Muntinlupa City court cleared Leila de Lima, a former senator and critic of Duterte’s anti-narcotics campaign, in the final drug case filed against her by the previous administration.

The Duterte administration had filed three cases against de Lima, accusing her of receiving payoffs from drug traffickers when she served as justice secretary between 2010 and 2015. 

Currently, the 78-year-old Duterte is facing two complaints before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

One was filed by a former police officer, a self-styled assassin who accused Duterte of ordering the deaths of opponents and criminals when the former president served as mayor of Davao City. The second was filed by relatives of people killed during Duterte’s anti-drug campaign under his presidency.

“If the ICC makes a move and courses the move through the Interpol and the Interpol makes the request to us for the arrest or delivery of a person subject to ICC jurisdiction, we will respond,” Bersamin told reporters.

According to Bersamin the “requests of Interpol should always be respected doing service in some areas.”

That stance came after the Justice Department softened its position regarding the ICC drug war probe.

“We will talk to them soon in a very well-defined manner, in the spirit of comity. Some people are trying to bridge the divide to bring us together, so we can sit at one table,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin said.

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