Selective?

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

In an effort to distract the attention of the people and divert their suspicions to the purposes of the present administration in pursuing the charges against those who have been determined to be involved in what is probably the most obnoxious scandal to be uncovered in the country, those accused, as well as their supporters, have been slamming its act as one of “selective justice”.

This they have tried to justify by pointing out that, so far, only the ones who have been pinpointed, and against whom charges have been filed are those who are not allied with the administration. Such charges, as of yesterday, have already been raffled out to the appropriate divisions of the court to try them. No matter how those handling the charges, which, as we all know, actually involve what could be dozens of our so-called lawmakers and their cohorts, try to explain that more and more are in line for charging, the repetition of such claims could affect the perception of the people, as intended.

This is indeed an era where the manipulation of information has been honed to an art by so many to the point that what is crooked is sometimes gradually made to appear as straight and true. This is unfortunate, because, our people, in general, seem to approve what the present administration is doing in trying excise the corruption in this country that has stymied its development and also the morals of its people, particularly those we have elected to supposedly be our “public servants”.

After several months of studying and isolating truth from lies, and determining the culpability of those named, our officials in charge of the judicial process, have zeroed in on the ones on whom the evidences point most strongly, and have courageously filed the appropriate charges. It is now up to those named to do what they can to clear their names because, after all, we still believe that everyone of them can be considered innocent until proven guilty.

So let us allow the workings of the law to proceed, and hope that through this catharsis, our method of governance will be cleansed at last.*