A lawyer-legislator warned on Sunday, Sept. 6, that skipping the routine mugshot for Vice President Sara Duterte sets a dangerous precedent, arguing that no accused person — regardless of rank — should be spared the standard criminal booking process.
Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, who chairs the House public accounts panel and serves as a prosecutor in the impeachment case, pointed to how other high-profile figures were processed to underscore the disparity. “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,” he noted.
The dispute traces back to the weekend, when the Philippine National Police set aside its usual booking steps for Duterte after Quezon City Judge Ma. Angelica de Ramos issued a warrant for her arrest tied to a grave threats complaint. To Ridon, the exemption undercuts a basic principle. “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,” he said.
His central objection rested on uniformity in how the justice system handles defendants. “There should be equal treatment of all accused under the law: ordinary people, senator, or the vice president. No special treatment,” Ridon stressed.
The point about consistency finds support in a lengthy roster of officials who went through the same procedure. Former senator Ramon Revilla Jr., ex-congressman Mike Defensor, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, his father and former president Joseph Estrada, and even former president and current Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo all sat for mugshots when facing charges.
A separate voice in the criticism took aim at how the Vice President has framed her own situation. Rep. France Castro urged Duterte to abandon what she described as a victim act, telling her to cease her “drama” of playing the victim and to stop being a “bratinella.”
