Charles Teves
Netizens rallied behind former Iloilo City mayor Jed Mabilog after he defended himself from President Rodrigo Duterte who said he was among those who were dismissed with finality by the Office of the Ombudsman for grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of public service.
Duterte in a televised addressed revealed that Metro Manila, Batangas, Iloilo City, Tacloban City, Lanao del Sur, Iligan, Davao City, and Davao del Norte will all be placed under a general community quarantine (GCQ) during the holidays.
His he was prompted to do so after recommendation from the coronavirus task force officials due to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the said areas.
People found it surprising that Iloilo was put under GCQ considering its low number of confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Mabilog couldn’t help but defend the Ilonggos and their success. He believes this is Duterte’s way of getting revenge since he has proven to be a staunch critic of the administration.
At the time of his tweets, Duterte was mentioning him constantly.
The two aren’t the best of friends, but for some reason, Duterte found it hard to get Mabilog’s name out of his mouth.
Mabilog also pointed out how he was considered the 5th best mayor worldwide in 2015, while Duterte, who was the mayor of Davao City for decades, hasn’t accomplished anything significant.
However, the former mayor’s wife, Marivic Griengo Mabilog, denied that her husband uses Twitter and that he doesn’t have an official account.
“Somebody with some sinister agenda maintains it. Whoever he or she is, wants to keep the animosity and enmity alive between Jed and the Duterte camp,” she said.
It was funny for a while, but now it’s dangerous.
The fake @/JedMabilog Twitter account is saying a lot of controversial things, and legitimate news outlets have been taking them at face value.
Mrs. Marivic Mabilog, wife of former Mayor Mabilog, has asked that we report it. pic.twitter.com/xdUPObmsT4
— Nizza | New video up on youtube! (@nizzaregalado) December 1, 2020
Netizens quickly withdrew their support from Mabilog, and instead found the whole thing funny after discovering the account was fake.
Last June, Mabilog said that he only has a Facebook page and nothing more.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/jMkM6QZrHt
— Dre (@Dre44359378) December 1, 2020
https://twitter.com/DDayumat/status/1333794800110223375?s=20
https://twitter.com/esrr810/status/1333792561345949702?s=20
Buking nanaman ang mga tangang dilawan sinasamba nyo eh poser. Alt cguro to bi baraan voklo pic.twitter.com/bvHMl2A1sN
— Prodigal (@ponga014) December 1, 2020
Hi. I work for the local newspaper that provided this infographic. This is legit. We’ve already reported this last June. I also tweeted about this earlier (see attached tweet below).
I also added the link from his offcial Facebook page on the replies for reference. https://t.co/1KoCki1Pbm
— Joseph Marzan #DefendPressFreedom (@josephbamarzan) December 1, 2020
She then called on Duterte to stop attacking their family.
“Move on. As I had said before, stop looking at my family and start looking at yours,” she said in a Facebook post.
“You have nothing on Jed except fabricated charges decided upon by your spineless minions,” she added.
Mabilog was dismissed by the Ombudsman in 2017 for “serious dishonesty, relative to his unlawful acquisition of wealth.”
He is now disqualified perpetually from holding public office.
Duterte first mentioned Mabilog in 2016 when he released the names of politicians and police officials who were allegedly protecting drug syndicates.
He alleged that Mabilog was protecting the Odicta drug syndicate and threatened to have him killed.
Mabilog left the country on August 2017 to attend international conferences but never returned fearing for his family’s life because of Duterte’s constant threat.
He is now living in Canada.
