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Selective justice as religion

The Daily Tribune
Written by Tribune Editorial
Friday, 15 July 2016 00:00
Source web address: http://www.tribune.net.ph/commentary/editorial/selective-justice-as-religion

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales has mastered the craft of selective justice, even straddling two administrations, which would be a good reason for the new government to
assess her status as a holdover.

While no action has been taken on the cases filed related to the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) in which an estimated P145 billion from the budget was juggled into a
slush fund of Noynoy and the Liberal Party, Carpio-Morales filed graft charges against former Vice President Jojo Binay on the day after the PDP-Laban of President Duterte
announced a coalition agreement with the LP.

The assumption is that there was some degree of horse trading to seal the marriage of convenience and of course on top of the demands of the LP was to allow Noynoy to get his
going away trophy target which is Binay’s head.

Consider the usual line of Noynoy’s speech on Daang Matuwid about his administration having led to the prosecution of a President, his predecessor Gloria Arroyo; three
senators, former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr.; a former Chief Justice being impeached and a former Ombudsman being
forced to resign.

The missing piece in the Noynoy showcase was the former Vice President who even before the elections, Carpio-Morales, the LP enforcer, has vowed to prosecute after he steps
down from office.

The charges filed against Binay was for graft, falsification of public documents and violation of the Government Procurement Reform Act related to the alleged overpriced Makati
City Hall Building II.

Carpio-Morales’ determination to take down Binay was apparent in her actions immediately after the elections in which Binay lost his quest for the presidency.

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Morales has badgered prosecutors in her office to ready the cases against Binay to allow the filing of cases against the former Vice President immediately after the end of his term
last June 30.

Carpio-Morales prodded the Office of the Ombudsman’s field investigators who were told to finish their task of going over the documents against Binay and his co-accused in the
complaint for the charges to be immediately filed before the Sandiganbayan.

Carpio-Morales earlier exerted pressure on the Commission on Audit (CoA) to release a report that would implicate Binay to the Makati City Hall Building II alleged overprice.
The Ombudsman’s office was also the suspected source of a leaked report on the CoA investigation of the Makati City Hall Building II.

Binay’s political party United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) had said a public relations man identified with Carpio-Morales provided copies of the CoA report to select reporters.
The investigations regarding the DAP, meanwhile, was downgraded from the plunder complaints filed while excluding Noynoy.

The “investigation” which up to now remains without a result only involved former Budget Secretary Butch Abad and Undersecretary Mario Relampagos and their culpability
would be limited to administrative charges.

Carpio-Morales predictably parroted the Palace view that the DAP funds were sourced from pooled savings as “a plan to boost disbursements” and “to jumpstart the
implementation” of the government’s expenditure program.

Carpio-Morales also held the view that the DAP projects were identified based on their “multiplier impact on the economy and infrastructure benefit, beneficial effect on the poor
and translation into disbursements.”

The most that Abad and Relampagos would face as a penalty would be for “technical malversation.”
Carpio-Morales said Noynoy has not been investigated since the President is immune from suit and that the charges that can be filed against him are “not grounds for
impeachment.”

On that alone, Carpio-Morales has a divergent view on Noynoy and Binay.

Since Carpio-Morales saw the immunity from suit that cloaked both Noynoy and Binay now lifted, what’s stopping her now from also running after Noynoy?
The sole answer is obvious, selective justice then, now and forever, as long as Morales stays put as Ombudsman.

*published in Daily Tribune newspaper 07-15-16 p.6