“I love being my husband’s wife.” –Julianna Margulies

I have not met Victoria ‘Marivic’ Griengo-Mabilog in person but, based on what I have heard on the news over the past years, I think she is the kind of wife any husband would die for unconditionally.

Out of all the officials humiliated by President Rodrigo Duterte’s dubious “narco list,” only former  Iloilo City mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog received all-out support – in the former of a blistering response from his wife. She, who can swear to her husband’s innocence to any ghosts in the heavens, had the guts to call the president a “liar.”

His wife (or the entire family) has probably had enough.

Any wife, mother, or sister can feel what Griengo-Mabilog feels as her husband is verbally abused by the national media, kicked down on all-fours, subject to unconscionable indignity, and treated like a worthless human being.

It would seem Duterte is hell-bent on not only killing the former mayor’s enthusiasm for public service but his human spirit as well.

However, if you are a victim of false accusation, slanderous and baseless charges, “black propaganda,” or toxic politics, and your wife happens to be Griengo-Mabilog, who believes in your absolute innocence, then you are not doomed.

Judging from her passionate and fiery rebuttal of the president, she is the type of wife who would “bite the bullet” for her husband. For her, persecution from the president was too much – overkill and “OA (overacting).”

Was Mabilog really the worst politician in the country?

What would Duterte do if a political enemy humiliated his son Paolo, who is currently running for Davao City first district congressman, or his daughter, incumbent Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, by accusing them of being involved in an international drug syndicate without providing a shred of evidence?

According to Matthew 7:2: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

While there are others on the president’s list who appear innocent, their respective family members have yet to engage in such a word war as Griengo-Mabilog.

While those who are really engaged in the illegal drug trade should be prosecuted and barred from holding public office, the innocent should be spared from blatant and perpetual humiliation. There are no spare parts for a damaged reputation.

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Alex P. Vidal, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo/WDJ