After Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, who has been under scrutiny for suspected links to illegal drugs, left for Japan last week, city officials have been dispelling rumors the mayor and his family fled the city.

City Administrator, Atty. Hernando Galvez, and the mayor’s spokesperson, Atty. Mark Piad, said Mabilog is in Japan to serve as speaker at a disaster-risk reduction forum and is scheduled to return to Iloilo City.

In a speech in Davao City over the weekend, President Rodrigo Duterte made reference to the mayor’s home, which he described as “more grandiose” than Malacañan Palace.

A day after the mayor left for Japan, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) conducted an inspection of his waterfront home, which overlooks the Iloilo River.

Mabilog has previously denied providing protection for slain drug lord Melvin ‘Boyet’ Odicta, Sr. and other crime syndicate groups./WDJ