‘Threat is not real:’ Badoy says SC junked red-tagging case

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy claimed at a Senate hearing that the Supreme Court has “dismissed for lack of evidence,” a case supposedly filed by several groups against her and other officials over red-tagging.

“Just in case red-tagging is brought up, I’d like to inform you that we were actually brought to court by the NUJP (National Union of Journalists of the Philippines), Gabriela, Rural Missionaries up to the Supreme Court, the ruling was that there is no…the threat is not real, and it is based on amorphous grounds,” Badoy said during the budget hearing of the PCOO.

The case was “dismissed for lack of evidence,” she said.

But NUJP chair Nonoy Espina denied filing any case against Badoy or any other government official over red-tagging.

“We haven’t sued anyone over red-tagging,” Espina said in a statement.

During the hearing, Badoy also claimed that the Supreme Court ruling supposedly stated that “membership into organization red-tagged is not an actionable threat.”

“That red-tagging is really actually a word that the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines) coined. It is not a real word,” she further said.

Senator Richard Gordon, who presided over the hearing, asked Badoy to submit to the committee the supposed Supreme Court ruling she cited.

To recall, House deliberations on the proposed PCOO budget last September were suspended “until further notice” as lawmakers denounced Badoy’s red-tagging activities.

The Makabayan bloc, whose members were tagged by Badoy as “high-ranking officials” of the CPP-NPA-NDF, also earlier called for the PCOO official’s resignation.

Badoy initially rejected the call to resign, saying that she should not be the one to leave office because she had never deceived Filipinos. She then said she would only be willing to resign if the six Makabayan lawmakers denounce the communist rebels’ atrocities, among other conditions. [ac]