Members of the Pavia Police Station served a warrant of arrest against Manuel Mejorada, this paper’s executive editor, over the perjury charge filed by Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog of Iloilo.

He was taken into police custody yesterday morning at his house in Deca Homes Subdivision, Brgy. Pandac, Pavia, Iloilo.

He was shortly released after posting a bail bond.

On April 2012, Mejorada ran a lengthy report on Mabilog’s amassing of unexplained wealth. A graft case was consequently filed before the Office of the Ombudsman (Visayas).

In response, the city’s chief executive filed a perjury case against the newspaper editor.

“The perjury case stems from the Ombudsman case I filed against him. One of the evidence I attached to the complaint is a JPEG copy of his SALN for 2010. As it turned out, the second page of the SALN provided by the Ombudsman was the wrong one. I complained; the Ombudsman said it was what could be found in their records. Anyway, I used it and made the allegation that Mabilog didn’t reflect his liabilities in the SALN.

That’s all there is.”

Meanwhile, Mejorada said that his arrest could not affect his resolve to fight corruption in the government.

Instead, “it will make me even more determined to go on with this battle,” he added.

“As early as Friday evening, I received text messages warning me that City Mayor Jed Patrick E. Mabilog had the warrant of arrest issued by Judge Amalik Espinosa to the Pavia PNP that same afternoon and have it served that night. Mabilog wanted to catch me unable to post bail because of the weekend,” Mejorada said in a statement.

“However, the Pavia police refused to be used as a tool for political purposes. They knew that I am not a criminal, that I will not run away from Mabilog's case, that I am a law abiding citizen, not a drug lord, not a gun-for-hire,” he added.

Further, Mejorada challenged Mabilog to explain to the people “why he wants somebody like me in jail while he protects drug lords and guns-for-hire.”

“Mabilog must be gnashing his teeth in anger. His plot to get me jailed was frustrated. I am sure he will assert his authority as chairman of the Regional Peace and Order Council to discipline the Pavia police for refusing to obey his command,” he added.*