--Emmanuel Macron
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- The first thing enemies of former Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog will agitate is that “Victoria 'Marivic' Griengo Mabilog is a Canadian citizen, thus she is not qualified to run for any public office in 2019.”
This argument is presumably being prepared by Mabilog’s critics amid reports that the former first lady of Iloilo City, who is now out of the Philippines, is being pushed by some Ilonggos to run for city mayor in May 2019.
Only the Commission on Elections (Comelec) can tell if Mrs. Mabilog is qualified or not.
Mrs. Mabilog has not made any official announcement regarding the report.
If Mrs. Mabilog is qualified under the law and decides to throw her hat in the mayoralty race, she will be squaring off with two of her husband’s former chief political allies -- Rep. Geronimo “Jerry” P. Treñas and Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III.
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If the law will allow Mrs. Mabilog to run for mayor, she will certainly give the warring gentlemen a titanic headache as she is going to collect all the “wasted” votes when the combined empires of Treñas and Joe III collapse owing to their imminent disintegration.
If Mrs. Mabilog will nix politics, on the other hand, there is no assurance, that the Mabilog couple will take sides in the full-blown political Armageddon between Treñas and Joe III.
Since most of former Mayor Mabilog’s key acolytes are now working with Mayor Espinosa, many City Hall occupants believe the Mabilogs will throw their support behind the incumbent mayor who was Mabilog’s running mate in the 2016 elections.
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But a reliable source informed this writer that the Mabilogs “might endorse no candidate for Iloilo City mayor.”
The Mabilogs are still reportedly “hurting” after nobody from the city government--meaning former Mayor Mabilog’s political allies in the city council, including then vice mayor Joe III and Rep. Treñas themselves--stood up to defend the embattled Mayor Mabilog from President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s relentless threats and attacks; and his false accusations that Mayor Mabilog was a “narco politician.”
Even Mayor Mabilog’s second cousin, Senator Franklin Drilon, did nothing to at least cushion the impact of the president’s lethal blows against the hapless Mabilog south of the border.
Whether the Mabilogs also have hard feelings toward their second cousin is something they alone know.
This revelation of a possible “non-support” from the Mabilog family must be painful to both (Treñas and Joe III) parties.
Those who cast doubts and question the motives of this disclosure can always verify the story from “authorized” people-or from the Mabilog husband and wife themselves for more precise and accurate information.
