PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte was not pleased by the Office of the Ombudsman's order to dismiss Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog after it found him guilty of serious dishonesty.
In a speech delivered Friday night in Davao City, Duterte said the dismissal order against Mabilog, whom he tagged as a narco politician, was "very, very late gesture" by the Ombudsman.
The President said the Ombudsman acted on the complaint against Mabilog to pretend that it supports his administration.
"Look at Mabilog, I think he is the cousin of [Senator Franklin] Drilon. The Ombudsman, in a very, very late gesture, fired [or] stripped him of his mayorship to deceive the public that they are supportive of me," Duterte said at the 25th founding anniversary of the Center for Brighter Beginnings, Inc held at the Davao Convention and Trade Center.
On Wednesday, Duterte warned Mabilog that he was his "next target" as he accused the local official of being involved in the narcotics trade.
The Iloilo mayor went abroad and filed a sick leave until the end of October, following repeated warnings of the President that the local chief might get killed if he continues his ties with drug syndicates.
In 2016, Duterte included Mabilog in his narco-list that contains the names of government officials, including members of the judiciary, allegedly involved in drug proliferation in the country.
The Ombudsman, in a decision dated August 29, handed down the guilty verdict after Mabilog purportedly failed to properly account his sources of wealth, which resulted in an increase in his networth by over P8.9 million in a span of one year.
Duterte has been critical of the anti-graft body after Overall Deputy Ombudsman Arthur Carandang earlier revealed the ongoing investigation on the presidential family's alleged ill-gotten wealth.
On September 28, Duterte turned the tables on the Ombudsman and revealed his plan to form a fact-finding commission that would investigate the alleged extortion activities of the agency's personnel.
He also said on October 4 that he was mulling to file an impeachment complaint against Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales on the grounds of "selective justice and the use of falsified documents." (VoxPop Philippines)
