An end to selective justice or not?

Malacañang never fails to remind us that this administration is committed to the daang matuwid or the straight path. Proof of this, it says, is that no less than  three senators are now behind bars and undergoing trial for alleged complicity with Janet Lim-Napoles in the P10 billion pork barrel scam.

A number of congressmen have also been charged with graft or malversation of public funds, with two of them already in jail for the same crime of channeling their  Priority Development Assistance Fund to dubious non-government organizations.

But what’s wrong with this picture is that those already indicted for plunder and graft are for the most part identified with the opposition, raising well-founded fear  that the administration is engaged in selective justice.

This week, the Department of Justice announced that a third batch of cases of graft and malversation in connection with the pork barrel scam is now ready for filing since the National Bureau of Investigation has already completed its probe. 

Those to be charged include Sen. Gregorio Honasan, former party-list congressman and now Secretary Joel Villanueva, head of the Technical Skills Development Authority, and Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, head of the House committee that recently approved the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law. 

While Honasan is identified with the opposition, Villanueva and Rodriguez are allies of the administration.

While this at first glance tells us that the administration does not condone wrongdoing by members of the ruling party or its supporters, there's also well-founded fear that the case against administration supporters may not prosper at all.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Wednesday that the filing of the third case will be postponed pending the gathering of more conclusive evidence against them. 

This raises the question: Is de Lima protecting Villanueva and Rodriguez who are said to be in the LP shortlist of senatorial bets? And isn’t de Lima herself part of that shortlist?

So is selective justice a thing of the past or is it still very much with us?

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