Bayan official files P2.1 million suit vs Badoy

MANILA, Philippines — Former National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict spokesperson Lorraine Badoy was slapped with a multimillion-peso civil suit yesterday for allegedly red-tagging Carol Araullo, the chairperson emeritus of militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan).

Flanked by her lawyers and supporters, Araullo filed a 24-page civil damages lawsuit before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court against Badoy and Jeffrey Celiz, who claims to be a former member of the communist New People’s Army.

Araullo is seeking P2.1 million in moral, exemplary and nominal damages as well as attorney’s fees against Badoy and Celiz for allegedly red-tagging her and Bayan repeatedly during their program on Sonshine Media Network International.

In her lawsuit, Araullo said as early as February 2020, the two have been identifying her as a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

“My purpose is to exact accountability for their false, baseless and malicious public statements against me so that they will stop this pernicious practice not only against me and other social activists but for many more who they have categorized as ‘enemies of the state’ because of their critical or oppositionist stance,” Araullo said.

She added that even her son, journalist Atom Araullo, has been a target of red-tagging and labeled a terrorist.