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Activist leader files suit vs red-tagging duo Celiz-Badoy

Veteran activist and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan’s (BAYAN) chairperson Teddy Casiño filed a civil suit against his “most vicious red-taggers” Lorraine Badoy-Partosa and Jeffery Celiz at the Makati Prosecutor’s Office last Monday, December 18.

In a statement, Casiño said his legal action had been long overdue as the respondents had been “falsely, maliciously, and repeatedly” accused him of being involved in terrorism, rebellion and other crimes as a supposed high ranking official of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

“They have been constantly spewing lies, aspersions, inciting ridicule and hate against me, my family, my fellow activists and our legitimate political beliefs and activities,” Casiño said.

Casiño’s filing came a few days after both Badoy-Partosa and Celiz were released from the House of Representatives detention facility where they have been held for a week for contempt.

After admitting they were wrong in their accusation that House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez had more than a billion pesos in foreign travel funds and apologizing to legislators, the two were freed on humanitarian grounds last December 16.

Their controversial show on Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) was also ordered suspended for 14 days starting December 14 by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) for “death threats, profane language, and unverified news content.”

Casiño said the hearings conducted on SMNI’s alleged violations of its franchise showed how the respondents lie and falsely accuse victims of their red-tagging spree.

BAYAN chairperson Teddy Casiño after filing his complaint vs Badoy-Partosa and Celiz.

“There is even a point that my travels to my home province have been maliciously maligned,” he said.

Casiño added that Celiz and Badoy-Partosa’s lies, hate speech and death threats are magnified by mercenary trolls and fake accounts, affecting his family’s reputation and integrity he has built and protected for many years.

“As a Leftist activist, I have been called many things by my detractors. But to be falsely and repeatedly accused of being a high ranking official of an organization arbitrarily designated by the Anti Terrorism Council as a terrorist organization, and accused of orchestrating the death of thousands and the destruction of the country, is just too much,” he said.

The veteran government and street parliamentarian added that he and other victims suffer dismay, unease, anger, stress and countless sleepless nights because of Celiz and Badoy-Partosa.

Casiño’s complaint was filed after mother and son Carol and Alfonso Tomas (Atom) Araullo, media organizations and other entities have filed various complaints against the red-tagging duo and SMNI before various courts, the MTRCB, the Office of the Ombudsman and the National Telecommunications Commission.

“I file this case not only for myself but for the sake of countless other activists and ordinary citizens who are being victimized on a daily basis by SMNI and the NTF-ELCAC. This must stop. Badoy-Partosa, Celiz and their fellow red-taggers must answer for their lies and attacks,” Casiño said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Veteran activist on ‘idiot red-taggers’

Dr. Carol P. Araullo, chairperson emirata of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, filed a ₱2.15 million damage suit against known red-taggers Lorraine Badoy and Jeffrey Celiz earlier this week.

“I do not want to play to their red-tagging schemes. I am not going to let idiots dictate what I am going to do,” Araullo said.

Araullo added she hopes to send a clear message that baseless allegations and attempts to silence voices of dissent will not be tolerated. #

(Jo Maois D. Mamangun / Kodao)

Mothers of disappeared students protest Badoy-Palparan interview as ‘cheap and desperate work of thieves’

“A travesty of justice,” mothers of disappeared University of the Philippines (UP) students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan called yesterday’s interview by National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson Lorraine Badoy of convicted kidnapper Jovito Palparan.

Reacting to an online interview last Wednesday of the retired general found guilty of kidnapping the students, the mothers said the caper was “a cheap, desperate attempt to vindicate criminals and rights violators.”

“It is nauseating, to say the least, to see Palparan and this Badoy trying so hard to salvage the face of the butcher for two hours, when Palparan is now a convicted criminal. The courts have convicted him, with overwhelming evidence and witness testimonies, for taking away our daughters. What a travesty of justice!” Concepcion Empeño, mother of Karen, said.

During the interview, aired over SMNI Network owned by controversial Rodrigo Duterte ally Apollo Quiboloy, himself charged in the United States of America for sex trafficking of minors and cash smuggling, Badoy said the show was done to “vindicate” Palparan.

Empeño also questioned why the interview was allowed in the first place by the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) authorities.

“They gave the convicted Palparan all the freedom to speak to the public. How about our daughters, did he give them a chance to speak and defend themselves? No! They remain missing to this day, for 15 years, while Palparan is alive and well,” Empeño exclaimed.

Erlinda Cadapan, Sherlyn’s mother, for her part said the interview is a cheap, desperate work of thieves such as Palparan and Badoy.

“They stole our daughters, and those who continue to employ abduction and enforced disappearances should be held accountable for the rest of their lives, like what they did to us, as we remain searching for our missing loved ones,” Cadapan said.

Cadapan said they are calling for NTF-ELCAC’s abolition as it perpetuates government’s systematic red-tagging of activists and persons resulting in real life harm on them.

“We call on whoever will be elected president to abolish the NTF-ELCAC, to help the victims of killings, enforced disappearances and other rights violations, and to see to it that the likes of Palparan, Badoy, red-taggers, human rights violators and ‘butchers’ will see their day in court,” Cadapan said.

Meanwhile, secretary Menardo Guevarra said the Department of Justice did not know of any request submitted by Badoy to be allowed to interview Palparan.

Guevarra added he is not aware of permission granted by the Malolos City Court for the interview either.

“Undersecretary Deo Marco will conduct an investigation tomorrow. Let’s wait,” Guevarra said on Thursday night.

Marco is the supervising undersecretary for the Bureau of Corrections that oversees the NBP. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Joma: ‘I am alive and healthy’

National Democratic Front of the Philippines chief political consultant denied rumors of his death, saying he is healthy despite suffering from arthritis.

Replying to social media posts about his alleged death, Sison on Tuesday said, “I am still alive. And I am celebrating my birthday today.”

The Communist Party of the Philippines founder turned 83 on Tuesday, February 8.

Sison said those spreading the rumors that he is dead are liars.

Presidential communications undersecretary and National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson Lorraine Badoy was among those who said Sison has died in a public Facebook post.

Badoy celebrated Sison’s supposed death, revealing it is a NTF-ELCAC wish for such to happen during the Rodrigo Duterte presidency.

Biro n’yo, na-deds si Joma bago matapos ang termino ni PRRD. Eh si PRRD kaya ang chair ng NTF ELCAC. Ang laki naming kunsumisyon kay Joma,” Badoy wrote.

(Isn’t that something, Joma has died before PRRD’s [President Rodrigo Roa Duterte] term ends. Joma had been a big thorn on our side.)

Badoy added they have a strategy to cause Joma’s death.

Strategy namin para ikamatay nya. LOL [laugh out loud]!” she said, without giving details.

Sison said in his statement however he remains healthy and is in fact preparing to deliver online lectures on fascism before and after World War II and the May 2022 elections in the Philippines.

He added that he is also set to introduce a film by Spanish filmmaker Paloma Polo’s El Barro de la Revolucion about the people’s war in the Philippines.

“I have no life-threatening illness, only some inflammations on the legs due to rheumatoid arthritis the other day and yesterday. These go away in only 2 to 4 days after medication,” Sison said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Out of order

Cartoon by Crisby Delgado, PUP/Kodao

At last week’s hearing by the House of Representatives hearing on the raid conducted by the police and the social work department on the Bakwit School at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City last February, Presidential Communications Operations Office undersecretary and National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict co-spokesperson Lorraine Badoy showed ignorance of parliamentary procedures and attempted to interrogate other resource persons. She was promptly told that she told that she could not ask questions as she is not a member of Congress. #

Employees and senators fight back vs. NICA, Badoy

The Senate employees union and several Senators condemned National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) director general Alex Paul Monteagudo and communication secretary Lorraine Badoy’s latest anti-communist witch-hunt.

The Sandigan ng mga Empleyadong Nagkakaisa sa Adhikain ng Demokratikong Organisasyon (SENADO) said Monteagudo’s allegation it exists as the eyes and ears of Communist groups in the Senate was malicious, baseless and dangerous that endangers the lives of its leaders.

“We are apprehensive that our leaders will now be the subject of vilification, harassment, arrest as they did to other union leaders affiliated with COURAGE (Confederation for the Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees) and, worse, killing which is happening now against unionists,” SENADO said.

The group said it believes it is being attacked for condemning earlier red-tagging activities by government agencies against legitimate public sector unions.

SENADO demanded that Monteagudo take down his post and apologize to all Senate official and employees “for his disrespect and profanity directed to the institution that is the stalwart of democracy and human rights.”

NICA chief Alex Monteagudo’s Facebook page that earned condemnation from Senators and government employees.

In a Facebook post, Monteagudo alleged that the Senate union serves as the eyes and ears of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines to hijack government projects and plans.

Communications secretary Lorraine Badoy also red-tagged the union in a column published by the Philippine News Agency.

Senators have come to the defense of the union.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he should know if the union is hijacking the government from within.

“[Monteagudo]) must have been misinformed. I would be the first to sense of such if ever. I’ve been there (in the Senate) since 1992,” Sotto said. 

He lauded SENADO for having led the passage of three Collective Negotiating Agreements for Senate employees’ rights and benefits.

Four opposition senators also condemned Monteagudo and Badoy’s allegations as “dangerous.”

“These are not just baseless attacks and vilification against the employees but against the institution of the Senate they represent,” minority bloc senators Franklin Drilon, Francis Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros and Leila de Lima said in a statement.

The four senators pressed for the passage of Senate Bill 2121, or the proposed “Act Defining and Penalizing Red-Tagging”.  

COURAGE meanwhile said its ranks will not back down under such repeated attacks and vowed to work harder for wage increases, job security, union rights and democratic and nationalist governance. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Badoy ‘heartless, shameless, irresponsible, despicable’ in red-tagging CNN Philippines amid calamity–NUJP

Despicable, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said of Lorraine Marie Badoy’s red-tagging of CNN Philippines during a calamity.

Reacting to the Cabinet undersecretary’s insinuation that alleged communist fronts exist inside the media company, the NUJP said Badoy “is totally irresponsible and endangers our colleagues in CNN, not to mention the members of LFS (League of Filipino Students) and our affiliate, the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP).”

In a post on her Facebook account, Badoy takes CNN to task for retweeting an announcement from the League of Filipino Students, which she labels “a known front of the terrorist CPP NPA NDF,” that it is accepting donations for victims of typhoons Rolly and Ulysses.

She then asks: “Wassup, CNN? Is it true there is a LFS/CEGP cell inside CNN?”

Badoy, Presidential Communications Operations Office undersecretary for new media and spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, is among the Duterte government’s most notorious red-baiters.

Local and international human rights organizations have repeatedly warned the government that red-tagging often lead to unjust arrests or, worse, assassinations of government critics.

“By making baseless claims without any proof and casting blanket accusations against a media outfit and, yes, a youth organization, this unelected government official is, in fact, violating two basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution, due process and freedom of association,” the NUJP said in a statement Saturday.

The media group added Badoy actually vilified and practically seeks the criminalization of an act of charity at a time when millions of Filipinos desperately need all the help they can get.

“Such heartless behavior is a disgrace not only to her office but to the whole government she supposedly serves,” the NUJP said.

CNN Philippines did not take Badoy’s apparent slander sitting down, either, strongly objecting to her “misplaced and baseless allusion” that some of its employees have links to underground groups.

The company said in a statement that the LFS is just one of the many groups that have launched a relief drive for the victims of recent typhoons that include Caritas Manila, Kaya Natin PH, Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan, student organizations from UP Diliman, UP Manila, UP Los Banos and Ateneo de Manila University, among others.

“We believe the back-to-back storms that ravaged our country serve as an opportunity to rise up from the ruins and practice the Filpino spirit of ‘Bayanihan’ in whatever capacity we can, rather than foray into red-tagging that will only sow disunity,” CNN Philippines said.

“We continue to update the list to give as many options for kindhearted individuals because we believe our suffering countrymen need all the help they can get in this time of calamities,” the company added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

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Disclosure: Reporter is NUJP deputy secretary general and Kodao is a NUJP chapter.

IBON files historic first red-tagging complaint with Ombudsman against Parlade, Badoy, Esperon

By IBON Media

Research group IBON will file an administrative complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman on Monday to hold government officials accountable for red-tagging the institution and many other activists, individuals and groups.

This is believed to be the first case of red-tagging filed against any government official in the country’s history.

Through co-complainants IBON Executive Director Sonny Africa and IBON Board of Trustees Chairperson Bishop Solito Toquero, an administrative complaint will be filed against former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) deputy chief-of-staff for civil-military operations and now Southern Luzon Command chief Major General Antonio Parlade, Jr, Presidential Communications and Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon.

IBON is asking the Ombudsman to hold respondents Parlade, Badoy and Esperon answerable for their malicious abuse of authority and negligent performance of duties as public officials.

IBON is also asking that they be punished for conduct that is grossly disregardful of the public interest, unprofessional, unjust and insincere, politically biased, unresponsive to the public, distorting nationalism and patriotism, and undemocratic.

The group’s complaint is grounded on The Ombudsman Act of 1989 (Republic Act No. 6770) and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (Republic Act No. 6713).

This is also after requesting the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to investigate the matter and participating in the CHR’s subsequent inquiry.

IBON said that the complaint was written after a year of constant vilification of it by the respondents.

The most recent, mentioned in the complaint, is when Usec. Badoy called IBON a communist front on the One News program ‘The Chiefs’ in end-January.

This was after IBON Research Head Rosario Guzman fact-checked the PCOO’s ‘Duterte Legacy’ information materials. Gen. Parlade meanwhile spent the first week of February in Australia calling out IBON for supposed terrorist financing.

The complaint enumerates numerous slanderous statements, interviews, articles, and speeches in 2019 and the first weeks of 2020 where Badoy, Parlade, and Esperon red-tagged IBON.

This visibly started in March 2019 when Badoy and Parlade had a press briefing in Malacañang Palace about their February 2019 red-tagging road show in Europe to vilify IBON and other activists and organizations.

They maliciously and publicly accused IBON of “fabricated reports” for the United Nations and European Union and “[radicalizing] students as young as seven years old to eventually become (Communist) cadres”.

Also in March, Esperon named IBON as among Philippine non-government organizations (NGOs) supported by the Belgian government that “act as legal fronts for the CPP-NPA”

The complaint points out that IBON formally wrote the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and National Security Council (NSC), as well as had a meeting with the latter, to ask for the so-called evidence for the allegations.

However, despite repeated requests, the AFP and NSC have refused to provide anything while purportedly showing these to media, diplomats, government agencies, and even private sector groups.

In the complaint, IBON underscores how the government’s crackdown on progressive groups heightened following the issuance of Executive Order No. 70 (EO 70) in December 2018 creating the National Task Force to End Local Communism and Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). All the respondents are ex-officio members of the NTF-ELCAC.

IBON’s complaint points out how the NTF-ELCAC has launched “a rabid vilification campaign against members of civil society by arbitrarily and unjustly branding them as fronts of the CPP-NPA, which have been declared as “terrorists” by the President.

The CHR, on the Sunday before IBON’s filing of the complaint, also called out EO 70 as using counterinsurgency to justify attacks on human rights defenders and activists.

IBON maintains that it is nothing more than a SEC-registered foundation that publishes its socio-political-economic analysis for all the public to see.

“Its researches enjoy a reputation of being independent, evidence-based, and credible. It is because of this reputation that its researches on social justice, real economic development, environmental sustainability and democracy, among many others, are widely used by various non-government and people’s organizations in pursuit of their own advocacy work,” read the group’s complaint. #

The PCOO’s disinformation must be stopped

by IBON Media

The Duterte administration’s persistent red-baiting of IBON and other groups instead of addressing the issues raised is an affront to the public. The public deserves the truth and to be informed about the issues that matter to them the most. Instead, the government is red-baiting critical voices to silence opposition and to hide the real situation of the country.

IBON Research Head Rosario Guzman and Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy were recently guests on One News’ ‘The Chiefs’ to discuss the administration’s Duterte Legacy campaign. IBON presented data questioning the accomplishments claimed by the PCOO. Instead of addressing the PCOO’s apparent disinformation, Usec. Badoy responded by linking IBON to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines (CPP-NPA-NDFP). She pressed the point and only relented when the hosts reminded her to stay on topic.

Usec. Badoy’s behavior is symptomatic of the administration’s wholesale attacks on independent groups. It is being done to hide the worsening economic situation, prevent the radical reforms needed to develop the country, and promote its self-serving agenda. Under the pretext of ending the armed Communist rebellion, the Duterte administration cast its net wide and is attacking every group that is critical of its anti-people economic policies and authoritarianism.

The Duterte administration has been most systematic and vicious in attacking those it sees as the greatest threats to its oppressive rule. The government vilifies, harasses, fabricates charges against, and illegally arrests critics and opposition. Human rights defenders have already been violently attacked and even killed under this administration. Usec. Badoy mentioned on the show that she is part of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). Since its creation in 2018, the NTF-ELCAC and its security apparatus has been implicated in the surge in human rights violations in the country.

President Duterte with PCOO secretary Martin Andanar and Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo. (Malacañan photo)

The PCOO is at the forefront of the government’s disinformation campaign to deceive and manipulate the public. For this, its budget has been increased substantially to Php1.7 billion in 2020 from an average of Php1.1 billion under the previous Aquino administration. The 55% larger budget of the PCOO is only going to promote falsehoods on an even wider scale.

IBON has been explaining economic issues to the public for 41 years. The Duterte administration is attacking IBON because we advocate an economy that upholds the people’s interests most of all. As with activists and other groups, we are undeterred and will continue to support the efforts of the people’s movement to reclaim the economy from the elites that have taken it over.

We will also be taking measures to show that we do not condone the people’s money being used for a self-serving political agenda. The PCOO, including USec. Badoy, is just among many who need to be put in their place. #

(Kodao publishes IBON articles as part of a content-sharing agreement.)

NUJP warns Badoy: You are accountable should red-baited journalists be harmed

Communications undersecretary Lorraine Marie Badoy is accountable should harm befall journalists she slandered as terrorists, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) warned.

Reacting to her accusations it is fronting and associated with alleged terrorist organizations, the NUJP said Badoy clearly painted the NUJP as enemies of the state.

“This is essentially an open call for state forces to threaten, harass, arrest, detain and kill journalists for doing their job,” the NUJP said.

In an interview with the television program The Chiefs last November 4 News5, Badoy said the NUJP is part of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and New People’s Army (NPA) and are “unequivocally” fronting for terrorist organizations.

The NUJP said Badoy’s latest accusation is part of an intensifying campaign to paint the group and other independent media organizations and journalists as “fronts” of the armed communist movement that started in December last year.

“Clearly, the intent of this red-tagging spree and all other assaults on press freedom is to intimidate the independent media into abandoning their critical stance as watchdogs and become mouthpieces of government,” the NUJP said.

Such accusations cause harm to targeted journalists however, the group said, citing the recent arrest and detention of community journalist Anne Krueger during the series of raids in Bacolod City last Oct. 31.

A reporter for the newly-established alternative media outfit Paghimutad, Krueger was accused of being a NPA member and slapped with illegal possession of firearms.

“What next? Should we, too, to expect raids and planted evidence in our offices and homes?” the NUJP asked.

Several journalists accused of being CPP and NPA members have also been victims of arrests, threats and murder attempts.

Davao Today columnist Margarita Valle was arrested at Laguindingan Airport last June 9 and held incommunicado for 18 hours in what the police later admitted was a case of mistaken identity.

In Cagayan de Oro, repeated red-baiting victim and Mindanao Gold Star Daily associate editor Cong Corrales was alleged to have a P1 million bounty on his head.

Last August 6, red-baited American journalist Brandon Lee survived a slay try.

“Clearly, the intent of this red-tagging spree and all other assaults on press freedom is to intimidate the independent media into abandoning their critical stance as watchdogs and become mouthpieces of government,” the NUJP said.

The group had been consistently critical of President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial pronouncements against journalists and media killings.

The NUJP however said it will continue telling the truth, as “[t]he Filipino people deserve no less.”

“As for those behind these attempts to muzzle and shackle the Philippine press, should any harm befall our colleagues because of your machinations, you will be held to account,” the NUJP warned. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

[Disclosure: The reporter is currently NUJP’s deputy secretary general.]