Duterte criticizes Carpio for alleged ‘selective justice’

President Duterte has called on Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales to carry out her mandate “without favor or bias” after criticizing her penchant for administering “selective justice.”

The President said the Ombudsman has stressed the importance of due process of law but is unable to act on complaints with “cold neutrality of an impartial tribunal.”

“It seems that the Office of the Ombudsman has mastered the art of selective justice,” Duterte said before an assembly of new government officials in Malacañang.

He claimed that the Ombudsman was “harsh on some, soft on others even when they all suffer from similar or analogous circumstances.”

The Ombudsman is also “slow to act on complaints against the friendly but quick to decide against perceived hostiles,” according to the President.

“The enemy of the Ombudsman’s friend is the Ombudsman’s enemy too, so it seems. That is how I see it from where I stand,” he said about Morales, an appointee of his predecessor then President Aquino.

Citing an example, the President criticized the Ombudsman’s handling of the pork barrel scam cases involving some lawmakers. He mentioned the cases of former Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. as examples of the Ombudsman’s supposed selective justice.

“Bakit ang Ombudsman matagal na siya diyan, natapos na lang itong si Aquino, why can’t they just wind up the cases against the senators?” he said.

He also questioned why Senator Juan Ponce Enrile was allowed to post bail, while the two other lawmakers remain in jail.

“It’s sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander. If you allow a certain person to post bail, there is absolutely no ground – legal or otherwise – na bakit ‘yung iba, hindi mo rin gawin?” he said.

He also criticized the Ombudsman’s action on the graft case against Senator Gregorio Honasan.