'WE ARE NOT GODS'

'We are not gods'

"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things." Winston Churchill 

MAYOR JED PATRICK MABILOG (RIGHT) AND APV

By Alex P. Vidal

We always consider it a blessing for freedom of the press and expression each time we hear a public official telling all and sundry that he isn't onion-skinned, and egging media to "criticize us if we err but also praise us or acknowledge the good things that we do."  
Such was the meat of the matter of Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog's speech during the induction of the new officers of the Iloilo Press Club led by Daily Guardian editor-in-chief Francis Allan Angelo September 14 at Hotel del Rio.
"We are not gods. You were the ones who elected us and placed us in our positions (as public servants)," Mabilog, the inducting officer, declared in his "inspirational" speech.

INSTRUMENT

"Ladies and gentlemen, an independent and responsible Iloilo press is an excellent instrument for development and for strengthening democracy.  Besides providing people all over the region access to news, information and debate that are the cornerstones of freedom, an independent and responsible press could build bridges, not barriers, between people separated by varied political suasions, beliefs, religion, and geography," he added (Here's the complete speech: http://thedailyguardian.net/index.php/iloilo-opinion/33818-partnership-for-development).
Mabilog, who was ripped apart by mediamen identified with his former rival in the mayoral race in the recent elections, was in reconcilatory mood as he spoke about press freedom and responsibility that goes with it. The city mayor said he has forgiven his media tormentors. 
Mabilog has always been a friend of the press. Contrary to what his critics have been saying about him, I've known him to be a cool person even before he was first elected as city councilor and later vice mayor during the term of then mayor and now Rep. Jerry Trenas. Mabilog is aware that as a politician, he must be immune to insults, thus he is not vindictive and he easily forgives.

SHARP

When he saw one of his sharpest critics, Berd Vargas, during the IPC affair, he tapped Berd's shoulder and quipped in a soft voice, "Kumusta ka na? OK ka na?"
Unlike other politicians who befriend only the editors, publishers and station managers, Mabilog considers other employees in newspapers, radio and TV stations as friends, as well. He mingles and chats with them like an ordinary person. He doesn't choose his crowd. Mabilog's political rise was meteoric. As founder and chairman of the HALIGI Foundation, he became extremely popular that during the last months of Mayor Mansueto Malabor in 2001, he sent fears in the heart of then Councilor Eduardo Laczi, a veteran politician and consistent No. 1 in the city council, who threatened to run for vice mayor if Mabilog would run for the same position. Mabilog became vice mayor for nine years while Laczi became a respondent in a graft case (for his alleged involvement in the P130-million Pavia housing scam).  
When Mabilog decided to run for city mayor against then Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. and former LWUA Administrator Larry Jamora in 2011, I was one of the few journalist friends he consulted in early part of 2010 (I was in the United States and we chatted via Facebook, in his first and original account). Information chief Amante "Boy" Espejo was one of the only few city hall department heads who believed that Mabilog was ripe for the position of city mayor. In one of our internet chats, Espejo expressed disgust that most of those implicated in the Pavia housing scam were city hall bigwigs. "It's time for Vice Mayor Jed (Patrick Mabilog) to take over and redeem the name of Ilonggos," Espejo stressed. "I believe he can make it."  

UPSET

He scored a major upset and earned the reputation as "giant killer" by trouncing Gonzalez and Jamora, two of former President Gloria Arroyo's most trusted cabinet officials. 
I didn't meet Mabilog when I went back to the Philippines briefly in 2011. I never set foot again in city hall, my beat as a reporter for 12 years since the time of the late Mayor Roding Ganzon (1988-1991) and Malabor (1991-2001), where I became one of the Iloilo City Hall Press Corps founding presidents. 
I only met Mabilog in my second homecoming during the cable talk show program hosted by Danny "Baby" Foz Jr. two days before the May 13 elections, and for the second time during the IPC induction ceremony last September 14. 
Now that Mabilog and the IPC have "reunited," we expect the press club building to be finally given permit under the presidency of Francis Allan Angelo.