“I love being my husband's wife.”
--Julianna Margulies
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- I haven’t met Mrs. Victoria “Marivic” Griengo-Mabilog in person, but based on what I have heard in the news about her these past years, I think she is the kind of wife any husband will die for unconditionally.
Of all the elected public officials in the Philippines humiliated by President Rodrigo R. Duterte in his dubious “narco list”, only former Iloilo City mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog got a blistering open and all-out support from a wife, so far.
Mrs. Mabilog, who can swear to any ghost in heaven that her husband is innocent, had the guts to call the president a “liar.”
Mrs. Mabilog--or the Mabilog family--probably have had enough.
Any wife, a mother or a sister, can feel what Mrs. Mabilog felt when her husband was verbally abused repeatedly in national media, kicked while down on all four, subjected to unconscionable indignity, and treated like a worthless human being even if he wasn’t fighting back.
It seems the president was hell-bent not only to kill Mayor Mabilog’s enthusiasm for public service, but also his spirit as a human being.
-o0o-
If you are a victim of a false accusation, a slanderous and baseless imputation, a black propaganda and toxic politics, and your wife happens to be Mrs. Mabilog, who believes in your absolute innocence, you’re not doomed.
Judging from her passionate and fiery rebuttal of the president’s soliloquy linking her husband to a despicable activity based only on a fringe “intelligence report”, Mrs. Mabilog is the type of wife who will bite the bullet for her husband; a wife who’s willing to transform into a Medusa, a winged human female with living venomous snakes in place of hair, and turn into stone those who will cast aspersion on her beloved husband.
The presidential persecution actually was too much; it’s over kill and already OA (overacting).
Is Mayor Mabilog really the worst politician in the Philippines?
What will President Duterte feel if one day, a political enemy will become president, by a stoke of luck, and also humiliate his son, Paolo; or daughter, Sara, and insist without any shred of evidence that they are members of international drug syndicate?
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:2)
-o0o-
There are others in President Duterte’s incredible list who may also be innocent like Mayor Mabilog, but their family members--wives, husbands, children--aren’t that intrepid and cocksure like Mrs. Mabilog to engage the foul-mouthed president in a word war.
We suspect some of those 46 politicians in the list could be really engaged in illegal drugs trade.
They should be prosecuted and prevented from being elected into public office; it’s a mockery of the law if they are paid by the taxpayers’ money and yet they promote and benefit from the destruction of those hooked on prohibited substance.
But the innocent should be spared from blatant and perpetual humiliation.
There’s no spare parts for a damaged reputation.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)
Showing posts with label #narcopoliticians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #narcopoliticians. Show all posts
Friday, March 15, 2019
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Secure Iloilo mayors Centena, Malones, Betita
“The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.”
--Sun Tzu
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- We join our fellow “concerned” Ilonggos in the Philippines and abroad in the call for the League of the Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Iloilo Chapter to use all its resources to secure Mayors Alex Centena of Calinog, Mariano Malones of Maasin, and Siegfredo Betita of Carles.
The three are among the local chief executives in the Philippines linked by President Rodrigo R. Duterte in illegal drugs.
As among the country’s most outstanding mayors, they don’t deserve to die violently based on wrong information and accusation.
Even if they have repeatedly and emotionally denied their involvement in narcotics, their names have remained dangling in the controversial list.
It’s better to praise 40 thieves and pagans than to condemn and put to risk the life of an innocent person.
-o0o-
Some of the mayors included in the bloody list are now dead; killed violently by unidentified assailants in separate attacks even before they could clear their names.
There has been no assurance from the Philippine National Police (PNP) or even the President himself that the killings of “narco politicians’” will end soon.
In fact, the President himself has offered rewards for law enforcers who can kill drug traffickers.
President Duterte goaded and “inspired” uniformed personnel sworn to protect the civilians to commit a criminal act against both the drug addicts and drug traffickers.
He even sided with police officials and ordinary cops implicated in extra-judicial killings (EJK) involving suspected drug traffickers--civilians or government officials and rogue cops.
We are not saying that the President and the PNP are behind the murderous binge, but the words and body languages of some PNP generals, especially President Duterte himself, suggest that they don’t condemn and discourage the bloody murders.
As feared by many human rights watchdogs, “they may have even abetted it.”
-o0o-
There have been no solid pieces of evidence, of course, that would link President Duterte and the PNP, but the culture of impunity in the Philippines has been overwhelmingly associated with the administration’s “all out” campaign against illegal drugs.
Now that election season is fast approaching, some politicians and disgruntled syndicate leaders might take advantage of President Duterte’s controversial “narco list” and order the assassination of their opponents in the May 2019 elections who are on the list, to make it appear they were waylaid for their “involvement” in narcotics business.
Whether they are up for reelection, Mayors Centena, Malones, and Betita undoubtedly have been exposed to danger--including members of their family just like other mayors, governors and other elected public officials maligned by the feeble “narco list.”
-o0o-
We don’t point an accusing finger to the President and make conclusions with absolute certainty that he might order the murder of the three Ilonggo mayors, but according to his bombastic speeches in the past, he “will definitely kill” former Iloilo City mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog whom he accused of being a “narco politician” and “the cousin” of murdered Western Visayas drug lord Boyet Odicta.
In linking the mayors and other local government chief executives in illegal drugs, an outraged President Duterte said he based it on “intelligence reports” which could also be false or “doctored.”
--Sun Tzu
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- We join our fellow “concerned” Ilonggos in the Philippines and abroad in the call for the League of the Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Iloilo Chapter to use all its resources to secure Mayors Alex Centena of Calinog, Mariano Malones of Maasin, and Siegfredo Betita of Carles.
The three are among the local chief executives in the Philippines linked by President Rodrigo R. Duterte in illegal drugs.
As among the country’s most outstanding mayors, they don’t deserve to die violently based on wrong information and accusation.
Even if they have repeatedly and emotionally denied their involvement in narcotics, their names have remained dangling in the controversial list.
It’s better to praise 40 thieves and pagans than to condemn and put to risk the life of an innocent person.
-o0o-
Some of the mayors included in the bloody list are now dead; killed violently by unidentified assailants in separate attacks even before they could clear their names.
There has been no assurance from the Philippine National Police (PNP) or even the President himself that the killings of “narco politicians’” will end soon.
In fact, the President himself has offered rewards for law enforcers who can kill drug traffickers.
President Duterte goaded and “inspired” uniformed personnel sworn to protect the civilians to commit a criminal act against both the drug addicts and drug traffickers.
He even sided with police officials and ordinary cops implicated in extra-judicial killings (EJK) involving suspected drug traffickers--civilians or government officials and rogue cops.
We are not saying that the President and the PNP are behind the murderous binge, but the words and body languages of some PNP generals, especially President Duterte himself, suggest that they don’t condemn and discourage the bloody murders.
As feared by many human rights watchdogs, “they may have even abetted it.”
-o0o-
There have been no solid pieces of evidence, of course, that would link President Duterte and the PNP, but the culture of impunity in the Philippines has been overwhelmingly associated with the administration’s “all out” campaign against illegal drugs.
Now that election season is fast approaching, some politicians and disgruntled syndicate leaders might take advantage of President Duterte’s controversial “narco list” and order the assassination of their opponents in the May 2019 elections who are on the list, to make it appear they were waylaid for their “involvement” in narcotics business.
Whether they are up for reelection, Mayors Centena, Malones, and Betita undoubtedly have been exposed to danger--including members of their family just like other mayors, governors and other elected public officials maligned by the feeble “narco list.”
-o0o-
We don’t point an accusing finger to the President and make conclusions with absolute certainty that he might order the murder of the three Ilonggo mayors, but according to his bombastic speeches in the past, he “will definitely kill” former Iloilo City mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog whom he accused of being a “narco politician” and “the cousin” of murdered Western Visayas drug lord Boyet Odicta.
In linking the mayors and other local government chief executives in illegal drugs, an outraged President Duterte said he based it on “intelligence reports” which could also be false or “doctored.”
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Stop the shame vs ‘narco’ village execs
“Slander is worse than cannibalism.” --John Chrysostom
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Now that they have been elected or reelected, the so-called “narco” village officials in the Philippines should be spared from further insult and humiliation from authorities, especially from the Police Regional Office-6 (PRO-6) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
Having secured a fresh mandate means they have the full trust and confidence from their constituents; the shame season is over.
PDEA and other law enforcement agencies should now leave them alone and give them a space while they perform their duties and obligations to their constituents.
Authorities may continue to monitor the activities of barangay officials they suspect of engaging in illegal drugs directly (actual trafficking) or indirectly (like protection racket), but they can’t stop or interrupt them now from enforcing their jobs as punong barangay or council members.
They can now fight back under the mantle of being “honorable” public officials, especially if their accusers can’t present a corpus delicti other than slanderous allegations.
-o0o-
PDEA’s golden moments against them were before the May 14, 2018 elections--years or months away, not weeks.
Those moments have melted away like the iceberg.
Walang forever.
The atmosphere before and after the elections is totally different.
If PDEA and other law enforcement agencies didn’t want these “narco” village officials elected and reelected, they should have doggedly pursued the cases against them and/or file appropriate charges in proper forum to disqualify them.
After the elections, it’s now water under the bridge.
As duly elected officials, they are back or now holding titles as “persons in authority” and may not just be easily harassed by any civilian or police authority.
These “narco” village officials may look like devils to our police authorities, but for their constituents they are heroes and “role models”; and they now possess awesome power and authority under the forceful local government code.
-o0o-
When a person is from Iloilo he is called an “Ilonggo” and he speaks “Hiligaynon”, the dialect of Ilonggos.
Some people from other regions, especially from Metro Manila, were always confused and would misuse the word Hiligaynon, the dialect, and the word Ilonggo, the person or resident of Iloilo and other Ilonggo-speaking cities and provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Even the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) got confused when it nearly included the ballot boxes from Iloilo City in the ballot boxes from Iloilo Province, which were part of those covered by the electoral protest of Bongbong Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo.
In Marcos’ electoral protest, only the ballot boxes from Iloilo Province were under protest, not the ballot boxes from Iloilo City, which the Robredo camp insisted to be “separate and independent from the province of Iloilo.”
-o0o-
TREATING EMOTIONAL PAIN. Let us think of physical and emotional pain as two sides of the same coin. "MRI scans reveal that the brain regions that light up when you stub your toe are the same ones activated when you feel socially rejected," says Nathan DeWall, Ph.D., who conducted a study on treating emotional pain…NO HEALTH RISK in full-body scans at the airport. It would take 100 scans over the course of a year for us to receive what's considered a "negligible individual dose," the American College of Radiology reports. In fact, we're exposed to more naturally occurring radiation when flying cross-country, thanks to our proximity to outer space.
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Now that they have been elected or reelected, the so-called “narco” village officials in the Philippines should be spared from further insult and humiliation from authorities, especially from the Police Regional Office-6 (PRO-6) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
Having secured a fresh mandate means they have the full trust and confidence from their constituents; the shame season is over.
PDEA and other law enforcement agencies should now leave them alone and give them a space while they perform their duties and obligations to their constituents.
Authorities may continue to monitor the activities of barangay officials they suspect of engaging in illegal drugs directly (actual trafficking) or indirectly (like protection racket), but they can’t stop or interrupt them now from enforcing their jobs as punong barangay or council members.
They can now fight back under the mantle of being “honorable” public officials, especially if their accusers can’t present a corpus delicti other than slanderous allegations.
-o0o-
PDEA’s golden moments against them were before the May 14, 2018 elections--years or months away, not weeks.
Those moments have melted away like the iceberg.
Walang forever.
The atmosphere before and after the elections is totally different.
If PDEA and other law enforcement agencies didn’t want these “narco” village officials elected and reelected, they should have doggedly pursued the cases against them and/or file appropriate charges in proper forum to disqualify them.
After the elections, it’s now water under the bridge.
As duly elected officials, they are back or now holding titles as “persons in authority” and may not just be easily harassed by any civilian or police authority.
These “narco” village officials may look like devils to our police authorities, but for their constituents they are heroes and “role models”; and they now possess awesome power and authority under the forceful local government code.
-o0o-
When a person is from Iloilo he is called an “Ilonggo” and he speaks “Hiligaynon”, the dialect of Ilonggos.
Some people from other regions, especially from Metro Manila, were always confused and would misuse the word Hiligaynon, the dialect, and the word Ilonggo, the person or resident of Iloilo and other Ilonggo-speaking cities and provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Even the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) got confused when it nearly included the ballot boxes from Iloilo City in the ballot boxes from Iloilo Province, which were part of those covered by the electoral protest of Bongbong Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo.
In Marcos’ electoral protest, only the ballot boxes from Iloilo Province were under protest, not the ballot boxes from Iloilo City, which the Robredo camp insisted to be “separate and independent from the province of Iloilo.”
-o0o-
TREATING EMOTIONAL PAIN. Let us think of physical and emotional pain as two sides of the same coin. "MRI scans reveal that the brain regions that light up when you stub your toe are the same ones activated when you feel socially rejected," says Nathan DeWall, Ph.D., who conducted a study on treating emotional pain…NO HEALTH RISK in full-body scans at the airport. It would take 100 scans over the course of a year for us to receive what's considered a "negligible individual dose," the American College of Radiology reports. In fact, we're exposed to more naturally occurring radiation when flying cross-country, thanks to our proximity to outer space.
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