THE Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) deserves credit for taking the first step by filing charges against some lawmakers — the “cong-tractors” — who abused public office to benefit from government contracts. That initial action is necessary. But it must not be the last.

What Filipinos demand now is fairness, thoroughness and nonselective justice. Preliminary reporting suggests that hundreds of members of Congress, their families or close associates own firms that have benefited from government projects. If those reports are true, every person implicated should face the same level of scrutiny and, where the evidence warrants it, identical charges.