EDITORIAL — Double standard

There are two types of justice in this country: one for the poor, the other for the rich and powerful. If you’re a jeepney driver who shoots dead a local government official over a minor altercation, and you are identified by witnesses, you will be hauled off to jail pronto, and possibly presented to the press in handcuffs, jail uniform and a name tag dangling from your neck, just in case the public can’t tell cop from homicide suspect. With no money for bail, you’re likely to rot in jail and are sure to be convicted.

If you’re an executive assistant of the mayor of Manila, and several witnesses accuse you of shooting dead a driver whose jeepney blocked your parked vehicle – with the make and license plates of the vehicle also duly noted – you waltz into Manila police headquarters, decline to confirm or deny the accusations, then waltz out, with the cops saying there is no formal complaint against you. The cops don’t call in the National Bureau of Investigation, where relatives of the driver have sought help to apprehend the suspect, Noli Sugay, the Manila mayor’s executive assistant on – of all things – police matters. Perhaps that was another factor going against the bereaved relatives of the dead jeepney driver, Aries Luriz, apart from the fact that Sugay was accompanied to the Manila police by City Hall legal officer Maureen Tolentino-Dila. Will Manila taxpayers be footing the legal bills of Sugay?

Elsewhere in the world, where justice is blind, a background check will be conducted on any person accused of shooting people because he can’t move his vehicle out of the parking lot. Does he have a criminal record? Does he have a history of mental instability? Such things are important if society wants to prevent a repeat of the fate that befell Aries Luriz. Catholic bishops keep harping on the need for justice in this country. So far the only group that can deliver on its promise of swift justice for poor people like Luriz is the New People’s Army.

Surely Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, so devout he banned the theater run of The Da Vinci Code and promotion of contraception in his city, will not stand for any travesty of justice, especially if it involves one of his aides. For all we know, Sugay could be innocent, a victim of mistaken identity. He should then be in a hurry to clear his name. His boss the mayor should not give a new dimension to the phrase, "You can’t fight City Hall."