Red-tagger Badoy guilty of indirect contempt over red tagging of Manila judge
MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) imposed a fine of P30,000 on Lorraine Badoy, former spokesperson of the government’s anti-communist insurgency agency, National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), after red-tagging a Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge.
In a 51-page decision by the high court’s En Banc, Badoy was found guilty of indirect contempt due to her multiple insults and a death threat on her Facebook page against Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar of Manila RTC Branch 19 after the judge denied the petition of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to proscribe the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) as terrorists.
On Sept. 21, 2022, Magdoza-Malagar denied the petition of the DOJ to proscribe the CPP-NPA as terrorists under the Human Security Act of 2007.
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The Human Security Act was repealed by the highly-contested Anti-Terrorism Law in 2020. Both laws faced scrutiny from human rights groups and legal experts due to some overreaching powers given to some government agencies in the determination of individuals or organizations as terrorists.
In convicting Badoy, the high court said that her pronouncements claiming that Magdoza-Malagar has ties with the communist insurgency and had help from the CPP-NPA in crafting the decision threatened the impartiality of the judiciary.
“Contrary to respondent's allegation, her posts made on Sept. 23, 2022 and Sept. 25, 2022 constitute ‘improper conduct tending, directly or indirectly, to impede, obstruct, or degrade the administration of justice’ — which equates to indirect contempt,” the court’s decision read.
“These statements constitute conduct that ‘tends to bring the authority of the court and the administration of law into disrepute or in some manner to impede the due administration of justice,’ it added.
The SC also said that Badoy’s so-called “criticisms” were not made in good faith “or without malice” and are not considered “fair commentaries” as it is not “grounded in truth and facts.”
“She launched the tirade against the Judiciary without thinking of the consequences that her unverified statements may bring,” the high court’s ruling read.
Aside from the fine imposed on the former NTF-ELCAC spokesperson, the SC also warned that repetition of her acts will lead to a more severe penalty.
On Wednesday, the labor group Alliance of Health Workers filed a new joint position paper before the Professional Regulation Commission to seek the revocation of Lorraine Badoy's medical license citing her instances of red-tagging.
Badoy was also reprimanded by the Office of the Ombudsman on September 2023 as she also linked the National Union of People’s Lawyers to the communist insurgency.
She and her co-host at Sonshine Media Network International, Jeffrey Celiz, are also facing civil charges filed by journalist Atom Araullo in September 2023 and by former Bayan Representative Teddy Casiño in December 2023 for "continued red-tagging." — with reports from Kristine Daguno-Bersamina
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