Stop protecting drug lords, Duterte warns Iloilo City mayor

End your connection to drugs now, President Rodrigo Duterte warned Iloilo City Jed Patrick Mabilog on Monday, hours after announcing the reassignment of Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido as head of the Iloilo City Police Office.

“Sa totoo lang, ngayon pang wala na nangyari, baka gusto mo nang tapusin ang connection mo,” Duterte said on Monday before reporters in San Fernando, Pampanga.

He was in the capital of the Pampanga to lead a boodle fight of chicken-based dishes to show that chicken was safe to eat amid a bird flu outbreak in the province.

Among the other government officials who joined him were Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol.

The President reiterated that Mabilog was among the politicians on his drug list. Mabilog denied the accusation in a press conference last Aug. 7.

“Well, I’ll tell you again, Mayor. Dinadawit ka. For the longest time, updated list, nandiyan ka,” Duterte said.

He warned Mabilog to stop protecting drug lords and asking the police for favors.

“Do not protect. Do not call the police ganito na ganito. Do not just mess up with the… kasi ‘pagka nandiyan, drug lord ka rin e. Mapipilitan ako. Bakit ka nag-protekta?” he said.

He said government officials not contented with their salaries could get involved in the drug trade. But they would have to pay the price.

“Kaya [kung] hindi kayo kontento sa sweldo ninyo, umalis kayo. Mag-drug lord na lang kayo. Bilyon ’yan. Pero ang kapalit niyan, kamatayan mo. Nagbobolahan pa tayo dito,” he said.

Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog holds press conference Sunday morning, Aug. 7, 2017, denying President Rodrigo Duterte’s allegation that he was involved in illegal drugs. (Photo by NESTOR P. BURGOS JR./ Inquirer Visayas)

Duterte on Monday assigned Espenido to Iloilo, which he earlier described as a “bedrock” of drugs in the Visayas.

“Mabuhay kaya siya?” the President, said referring to Jed Patrick Mabilog, as he announced the new assignment of Espenido.

Espenido was the police chief of Albuera, Leyte, when Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. was killed last Nov. 5, 2016, in an alleged shootout inside the Leyte Sub-Provincial Jail in Baybay City.

As police chief of Ozamiz City, Espenido also led the raids on the houses of the Parojinog clan on July 30, 2017, that led to the death of Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog and 14 others. /atm