Lawmaker decries 'special treatment' for VP, questions equality before law

MANILA, Philippines — Unlike ordinary people and other politicians who have been charged with criminal cases, Vice President Sara Duterte did not have her mugshots taken – a special treatment that must not be tolerated, a lawmaker insisted yesterday. "There should be equal treatment of all accused under the law: ordinary people, senator, or the vice president. No special treatment," House prosecutor and Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon stressed. The public accounts panel chair made the pronouncement after the Philippine National Police “waived” over the weekend its ordinary booking procedures in the case of Duterte, who has been the subject of an arrest warrant issued by Quezon City Judge Ma. Angelica de Ramos for a grave threats lawsuit. “It is clearly a case of special treatment that does not speak well of the rule of law and the equality of persons before the law,” Ridon said. “Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, even if he surrendered directly to the Sandiganbayan, was still subjected to the mandatory and standard criminal booking process, including the taking of a booking photograph or a mugshot,” the lawmaker and lawyer recalled. Former senator Ramon Revilla Jr., ex-congressman Mike Defensor, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, his father ex-president Joseph Estrada and even former president and now-Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, all had their mugshots taken previously. Rep. France Castro called on the Vice President to cease her “drama” of playing the victim, and stop being a “bratinella.” Information source: Philstar Nation