An end to selective justice?

The latest development in the Priority Development Assistance Program or pork barrel scam is that the National Bureau of Investigation has completed its investigation of the third batch of lawmakers alleged to have been involved in the diversion on public funds to non-existent or dubious NGOs.

While those to be charged have not been officially named, they are believed to include Sen. Gringo Honasan, who is identified with the opposition, TESDA chief Joel Villanueva, said to be in the shortlist of possible LP senatorial bets in 2016, and Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who is chairman of the committee that approved the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law that Malacañang wants to be rushed for approval by Congress this month.

The Department of Justice says that the NBI investigation is significant because it did not spare known administration allies, such as Villanueva and Rodriguez.

Critics had earlier slammed the DOJ for being too selective in investigating the pork barrel scam, targeting only those identified with the political opposition. Thus,  only three senators belonging to the opposition—Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla—are now in jail for plunder and graft charges, despite the widespread belief that even pro-administration senators may have been involved in the scam 

In short, what the DOJ is saying is that allegations of selective justice by the Aquino administration in the pork barrel scam is only a figment of the imagination of detractors.

But the selective justice issue cannot simply be ignored or wished away as the NBI report has yet to be approved by the DOJ itself and transmitted to the Office of the Ombudsman.

The DOJ can take its sweet time and delay the filing of the case, in which case Vilanueva, for example, can still run for senator next year instead of being placed in handcuffs and hauled off to the Camp Crame once the Ombudsman decides that there is merit in the DOJ findings.

Until we see both administration and opposition lawmakers found to have benefited from the pork barrel scam locked up in prison, the perception that this administration is engaged in selective justice will not go away.

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