The government is so out of control. It is so bloated and infested with fraud and deceit and corruption and abuse of power.
— American guitarist and singer Ted Nugent
UNKNOWN to many, former President Rodrigo Duterte owned a so-called ‘Playbook’ during the time he was our country’s chief executive and commander-in-chief of the military.
This is where it is written the threats and order to kill in order to eliminate the political competition leveled against him.
In 2017, former Iloilo City mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog was named in Duterte’s popularized ‘narco-list’. Also included were a number of elected officials who were accused of being involved in the illegal drug trade and other crimes such kidnapping and assassination of political rivals.
When Mabilog learned about this and for fear of his life and safety of his family, he left his motherland and went to America to ask the United States government for political asylum. Here he hid from the long arm of Duterte and avoided apparent death.
And now after seven long years, he has returned from his self-exile. He determined to right the grievous wrong done to him in alleging he was involved in the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country by the Dutertes.
However, Mabilog’s return is not only because he wants to clear his name but to acquire justice and bring to justice those who had destroyed his name and life.
During the latest hearing of the House Quad Committee investigating Duterte’s bloody drug war, Mabilog testified that he received a call from former Philippine National Police (PNP) regional director Major General Bernardo Diaz who invited him to a meeting with former PNP chief and now reelectionist senator Ronald ‘Bato’ Dela Rosa in Camp Crame in Quezon City.
But before the former mayor was able to do this, he again received a confidential call from another police official who told him not to proceed with the meeting with Bato because it would put his life in grave danger.
The message was clear and undeniable—he was now a target of Duterte’s cohorts and his days are numbered.
The fear was all the more aggravated by a text message received by Mabilog’s wife from a police colonel’s wife who warned her that they would surely be killed if they did not follow orders because 20 armed men had already surrounded their home and were ready to liquidate them.
Moreover, Mabilog also received a call while he was in Japan for a speaking engagement from another general, who advised him not to return to the Philippines.
The general also added that if Mabilog was willing to implicate former Senator Franklin Drilon and vice president Mar Roxas in the drug trade, the liquidation order against him may no longer be pursued.
But who would believe in his right mind that the ‘boy-scout’ Mar Roxas and the veteran constitutionalist and former Senate President Franklin Drilon to be involved in illegal drugs and in any crime at that?
This is simply hilarious. But it is known that both were members of the Liberal Party and vocal critics of Duterte.
In fact, Roxas became one of Duterte’s opponents for the presidency in 2016. On the other hand, Drilon was a known detractor of the former president even when he was just the mayor of Davao City.
This is why we can say that the threats against Mabilog were not about law and order. It was vengeance brought about by the deep grudge Duterte bore against the former Iloilo City mayor.
If it is true that Duterte’s style was steeped in destroying his political enemies, then it can be said that his form of governance was similar during his term in Malacañan.
Only threats and orders of execution were contained in Duterte’s ‘playbook’ with the sole purpose of killing his rivals. And we must not forget those who were his die-hard co-conspirators who were all ready to do his bidding. If one wanted to know if they had integrity—the answer is simply none! They were all blind followers in the deadly plan of Duterte to eliminate his enemies and maintain his macho image.
Mabilog‘s revelations only showed how Duterte perpetuated (or is perpetuating even now) his crooked plans in politics. The police itself—an institution that should have upheld its mandate of maintain peace and order and whose people are being paid their salaries from the blood and sweat of the Filipino people—was used by Duterte as his personal weapon of revenge.
It is worrisome to think that our hard-earned money from which we pay our taxes to government is scandalously being used by the people ordered by Duterte to kill without conscience.
All these were only to fatten the ego of the former president and prolong his authoritarian power.
The truth can no longer be held—Duterte has transformed our government into a circus of the destitute whose only reason for being is that of revenge and bullying as its SOP (standard operating procedure).
What should have been a workable democratic government was degraded by Duterte as a personal playground to engorge himself in his self-esteem. His leadership is not only authoritarian like that of the hated Adolf Hitler in Germany—but is also manipulative, greedy and perilous to many, things that go against God’s desire of us being His children leaving in love and harmony.
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