LP official hits Palace dismissal of Carandang

MANILA, Philippines — A ranking official of the Liberal Party on Thursday lamented how two different stories of justice unfolded for Filipino people on August 1.

Erin Tañada, Partido Liberal vice president for external affairs, said that the indictment of pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles showed a foreign country pursuing the accused swiftly. Meanwhile, the Palace’s dismissal of Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Carandang, told of “suspects going after the investigators,” Tañada added in a statement.

“This reflects a worrying culture of selective and fake justice that must not be allowed to thrive in the Philippines,” he said.

On Wednesday, the US court indicted Napoles—the brains behind the pork barrel scam—on conspiracy and money laundering charges. On the same day, the Palace’s dismissal order for Carandang, who lead the probe into President Rodrigo Duterte’s alleged hidden wealth, was made public.

Tañada, who is an official of the de-facto opposition party, said that under the present administration, the public has been witnessing “many forms of political persecution” that include deaths in war against drugs and assassination of local officials, among others.

“Yet cronies are allowed leeway and, while they were initially dismissed from their positions, they are also easily reassigned to assume some other position of power,” he added.

Criticisms were thrown at the executive branch for its reappointment of officials who have handed their resignation or whose terms have expired. The reappointment includes Bureau of Customs officials who were earlier embroiled in the P6.4-billion shabu shipment case.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque defended the reappointments, and said that Duterte has prerogative on the matter.

Meanwhile, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, an opposition lawmaker, slammed Malacañang’s dismissal of Carandang. He called the order as “illegal, unconstitutional, and unethical.”

“Up to now, Duterte cannot face this serious allegation about his hidden wealth amounting to billions of pesos of deposits; so, he is resorting to cover-up and harassment tactics,” the senator added.

Trillanes has accused Duterte of having millions in his bank accounts. He sought the Office of the Ombudsman for an investigation into the matter, but the investigation was terminated in February as the Anti-Money Laundering Council declined to provide data in the investigation.

Duterte has repeatedly denied Trillanes’ allegations. — Kristine Joy Patag