TO erase the stigma attached to Iloilo City, which was tagged as “the most shabulized city” by the former president, House Deputy Majority Leader and Iloilo City Lone District Rep. Julienne “Jam” Baronda asked during the Quad Committee hearing in Pampanga on Friday for the 2017 reports of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on illegal drugs.
During her interpellation in the joint public hearing of the House Committees on Dangerous Drugs, Public Order and Safety, Human Rights, and Public Accounts, Baronda said the Ilonggos have been stigmatized by the label which has sullen the image of the Ilonggos and their city, which is known as the City of Love. So she sought the law enforcement agencies’ records of the top 50 local government units with high illegal drug incidents.
She also sought the PNP and PDEA’s list of local politicians involved in the illegal drug trade in 2017 to put to rest the allegation against former Iloilo City Jed Patrick Mabilog, who was threatened to be killed for his purported involvement in the narcotics trade.
“The Ilonggos have been asking me about former Mayor Mabilog whenever I visit the barangays because they know he is innocent. The Ilonggos also want to set the record straight: we have drug cases, but these were not as massive as portrayed. We are not the ‘most shabulized city’. I believe that the former president was misinformed. That is why I sought proof or records from our law enforcement agencies. I only want justice and the truth for our city,” the lady solon told the media.
