North South Jorunal news team 
Jed Mabilog, the former mayor of Iloilo City, indicated that he is willing to testify in the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) research on the drug war undertaken by the Duterte administration.
Government data show that during the Duterte administration’s anti-drug operations, certain 6,200 drug suspects were massacred.
Human rights organizations, however, believe that the number might rise to 30,000 as an outcome of unnoticed-related murders.
The ICC allowed the probe’s restart in January 2023, citing its cessation in November 2021.
While being placed on Duterte’s drug watch list in 2016, Mabilog made explicit that he is not a drug protector and questioned the list’s credibility. In 2017, he also made the choice not to head back to the United States after facing threats to his life while giving a lecture in Japan.
Dela Rosa, the head of the Philippine National Police, said it “incredible” that he had called Mabilog to be killed in Camp Crame. According to Dela Rosa, Mabilog’s inclusion in the drug list resulted from his possible affiliation with the Odictas, suspected drug lords in Iloilo City.
Dela Rosa asserted that his previous mayor notified him that his supposed link with Odictas might have been due to his city administrator’s association with those people.
Following the belief from a previous mayor that Mabilog was not involved in illicit activity, Dela Rosa decided to work with him.
