A REMARK by President Aquino earlier this week reminded us once again that there are two sets of rules in this administration—one for friends and allies, and another for everybody else.
Asked over the weekend what the government would do about communist demands that their detained consultants be freed before the peace talks resumed, the President said: “If these consultants have already been charged in court, the executive branch cannot just take unilateral action to have them freed.â€
The explanation makes perfect sense until we remember that this is exactly what the President did when he granted amnesty to military rebels led by his ally, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, last month.
Like the National Democratic Front consultants, Trillanes and his cohorts had already been charged in court when Mr. Aquino took unilateral action to have them freed.
The double standard that the administration applies can also be seen in the President’s decision to create a Truth Commission to investigate corruption charges against the members of the previous
administration. In the face of this massive effort to prosecute grafters, however, the President is quick to dismiss accusations against his closest lieutenants.
The dissonance that results from all this is the logical result of this administration’s penchant for ad hoc decision-making that targets enemies while favoring friends, and failing altogether to consider the full implications of official actions. This is aggravated by the administration’s antagonistic attitude toward the Judiciary.
When the Supreme Court stopped the Palace from firing the chairman of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos because she was a “midnight appointee†of the previous administration, President Aquino accused the justices of “testing the limits†of their constitutional authority.
“The potential result of this will be chaos and paralysis in the Executive branch of government, as the legitimacy of officials appointed to replace those already removed will be cast in doubt,†he said.
Later, when commenting on an international survey that placed the Philippines among the world’s 12th most corrupt countries, Mr. Aquino singled out the Judiciary as an obstacle to reform.
In making those declarations, the President showed no apparent concern for the wider chaos and paralysis that would ensue in society if nobody respected court decisions. That is a dangerous road down which we should not travel
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Topic: Double standard (Read 1780 times)