VP Sara’s mugshot

That Vice President Sara Duterte did not undergo a standard booking mugshot when she voluntarily posted bail has sparked intense public debate over whether or not she received special treatment from either the court or the police.

From a legal standpoint, this should not be an issue at all since all practicing lawyers know that the former Education secretary could actually dispense with it and submit her own photographs instead if bail was posted sans arrest. In fact, lawyers facilitate this on behalf of their clients by telling them to voluntarily coordinate with the court to take care of their warrants of arrest.

Yet, this issue has persisted because her political opponents want to weaponize this for political gains. For them, the goal is not to pursue genuine accountability but to stifle her chances in 2028. While this is understandable given our unique political landscape, it nonetheless has far-reaching implications that hurt our quest for true and meaningful reforms in public office.

Certainly, politicizing every issue and deliberately distorting the interpretation of the law pose a severe threat to democratic stability, public trust and the social contract. What’s unfortunate here is that instead of truly pushing for institutional reforms, interest groups would like to view every legal framework and societal challenge strictly through a partisan lens, if only to generate public support for their political agenda.

This obviously results in dumbing down our society, where nuanced discussion of issues is easily frowned upon, finding middle ground becomes impossible, and pragmatic problem-solving is replaced by ideological warfare. In fact, there’s no more room for neutrality and nonpolitical spaces. Everything is openly questioned or manipulated to favor one side.

This leads to the imposition of selective justice, where the legal system and its institutions are used to politically harass opponents and favor those in cahoots with the powers that be. As targeted legal actions against rivals increase, efforts to defend allies are intensified, albeit exposing them to mere public scrutiny to at least give some semblance of impartiality.

As a case in point, plunder and graft charges filed against lawmakers have disproportionately impacted minority factions, while those who were convinced to cross to the other side have suddenly become safe and immune from any form of accountability.

Hopefully, at some point, people would be able to realize that political color should have no place in politics, as it does more harm than good. And then some.