Drilon critic shrugs off 'persona non grata' tag

MANILA, Philippines — Former Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel Mejorada on Wednesday brushed aside the Iloilo City Council's move declaring him a "persona non grata."

Mejorada, who filed a plunder complaint against Senate President Franklin Drilon before the Office of the Ombudsman last month, said in a Bombo Radyo interview on Wednesday that members of the City Council are under orders of Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog.

He also accused them of lacking "common sense" in issuing the resolution.

Mejorada faced the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee last week where he accused Drilon and other Cabinet officials of spearheading an "overpriced" Iloilo Convention Center project.

He also called Iloilo City the country's "bird's nest of corruption" in his opening statement before the panel.

He admitted, however, that he had no proof that the respondents colluded in the alleged anomaly and pocketed kickbacks from the project.

"I have to admit that right now there's no evidence, because right now I have no subpoena powers," Mejorada said.

He also said having cited information from crowd-sourced website Wikipedia in filing the complaint.