MANILA, Philippines — A group of judges in the country condemned the former spokesperson of the anti-communist task force for purported “red tagging” and “online vilification” of a Manila judge following her ruling to dismiss the petition to declare as terrorists the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing the New People’s Army (NPA).
Hukom Inc. an organization of trial court judges, made the statement after former National Taskforce to End Local Communist Armed Conflict spokesperson Lorraine Badoy accused Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 19 Presiding Judge Marlo Apalisok Magdoza-Malagar of lawyering for the CPP-NPA after she dismissed the Department of Justice’s 2018 proscription petition to declare them as terrorists.
READ: Judge attacked online for junking terror tag on CPP-NPA
In a now-deleted Facebook post on September 23, Badoy called the judge a “friend” and “true ally” of the communist armed movement, saying that her 135-page decision was a “gift” and “propaganda material” for them.
READ: Court’s rejection of terrorist tag on CPP-NPA a ‘pleasant surprise’ – spokesman
“Another member of the Bench is again challenged,” the organization said in a statement on Saturday. “A much respected, upright and competent judge, after resolving a case against the government over a repealed law, had been red-tagged.”
The organization noted that the members of the court usually “kept silent” whenever their decisions came into attack, as they usually just allow their decisions to speak on their behalf.
“Recent events, however, have magnified the effect of criticism of the judiciary … We cannot rest easy and accept them as normal and ordinary. These acts must be called out because of the chilling effect on the exercise of our judicial functions and the lasting damage they cause to our institution,” they also said.
Furthermore, the group members also called for their fellow judges to “refuse to be victims.”
“Let us not normalize the use of violence against persons as a form of redress by being silent,” they said.
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