Manila: President Benigno Aquino called on agencies to respond to allegations of Vice-President Jejomar Binay about “selective justice,” sources said, adding that Aquino was worried that Binay’s complaint also mirrored the 2014 report of the United States about lengthy legal procedures that give rise to human rights violations in the Philippines.
The justice department was ordered to fast track the judicial system and avoid lengthy procedural delays, said a source who requested anonymity, adding it was also tasked to work on a system of cooperation with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) so that complaints are acted upon.
Former government officials, critics of government such as political, rights and environment activists have been complaining about illegal detention, said the source, adding that complainants also included high profile political detainees such as former President Gloria Arroyo and three opposition senators.
Last February 26, British barrister and international human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney filed before the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) a case against the Philippine government for not granting Arroyo bail and for holding her under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Centre in suburban Quezon City.
Arroyo has a spine disease and accused of allegedly transforming P366 million (Dh30.5 million) fund of the government-run Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) into intelligence fund to avoid audit and the money’s use for election campaign during her term. She was also accused of rigging elections to favour her party’s senatorial candidates.
Clooney did not take the cudgel for Senator Juan Ponce Enrile is also under hospital arrest at the headquarters of the Philippine national Police in suburban Quezon City. Enrile and Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla have been requesting for bail following complaints of alleged misuse of development funds. They allegedly approved the release of P200 million (Dh16.66 million) development fund allotted to them yearly to fake projects to be undertaken by non-function non-government organisations.
When Binay resigned from two cabinet posts last Wednesday, he complained that the justice department filed plunder cases only against opposition leaders even if whistle-blowers mentioned their list of lawmakers misusing their development funds included senators and congressmen who are Aquino’s allies. It is a case of “selective justice,” Binay complained.
Meanwhile, 500 political prisoners have been requesting for their release and complained of illegal detention. Many of them are political consultants who have immunity from arrest, a provision of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees that the Philippine government and the leftist National Democratic Front (NDF, a representative of the 47-year old Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army) signed in 1998. The Philippine government and the leftist NDF have been holding on and off peace talks since 1992.
Binay also complained of political prosecution for the revival of alleged plunder cases against him in senate probes even if these cases have been elevated to the Ombudsman.
“We are asking all agencies concerned, our colleagues in the judiciary and Congress, to take a look at the report and. concerns raised by the report (of the US),” said Aquino’s spokesman Abigail Valte when asked to respond to the US report.
He asked for passage or amendment of laws and addressing judicial processes, said Valte.
The US report complained of human trafficking, illegal detention, indecent labour practices. forced displacement, modern day slavery, political killings, torture of prisoners, and overcrowded prison cells in the Philippines.