VIP suspects - EDITORIAL

The P50 million has been awarded to informants who helped nail down those now accused of involvement in the murder of Ako Bicol party-list representative Rodel Batocabe and his police bodyguard.

If the leads provided by the informants cost taxpayers P50 million, it means authorities consider the information credible, together with the stories given by six arrested suspects. All six worked as security personnel at the Daraga city hall in Albay. And all six, according to the Philippine National Police, were unanimous in pointing to their boss, Daraga Mayor Carlwyn Baldo, as the person who ordered them to assassinate Batocabe. PNP officials cited a possible political motive: Batocabe was challenging Baldo for the mayor’s post in the May elections.

While the six were promptly placed under arrest, however, the Albay prosecutor’s office appears to be agonizing over the case against Baldo. With the prosecutor taking its time in filing the case in court, no arrest warrant has been issued for the mayor in connection with the twin murders. Last Tuesday, police raided the mayor’s house and finally arrested him – on gun charges.

And yet in the country’s criminal justice system, some – as George Orwell put it – are more equal than others. As soon as Baldo was booked and his mug shot taken, the mayor allegedly began hyperventilating, and was promptly rushed to the Santo Tomas Hospital in Legazpi City for an asthma attack and high blood pressure. There he remained confined as of yesterday, with his asthma undoubtedly recurring and his blood pressure shooting up each time the thought of detention crosses his mind.

If detention triggers a similar attack in any of the six security aides, would they also enjoy confinement in a private, air-conditioned hospital room? They would probably be given a pill for hika, and if that doesn’t work, police might ask them if they want to have their misery ended… permanently. 

Hospitals have become a favorite refuge of VIP suspects in this country. For those who are eventually cleared, their afflictions miraculously disappear overnight. A female drug convict has gained notoriety for spending an inordinate amount of time confined in a hospital in Manila’s Chinatown. Authorities in Albay should disprove the perception that there are two types of justice in this country: one for bodyguards, and another for mayors.