Badoy: Civil suit over red tagging ‘won’t stop me from speaking the truth’

Lorraine Badoy. INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines — Former anticommunist taskforce spokesperson Lorraine Marie Badoy remains unfazed by the civil suit filed against her by the chairperson emeritus of the progressive alliance Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan).

Bayan chairperson emeritus Maria Carolina Araullo on Wednesday filed before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court a civil case against Badoy and Jeffrey Celis, hosts of SMNI program “Laban Kasama ang Bayan.”

According to the 24-page complaint, Araullo demands P1 million pesos in moral damages, P500,000 each for exemplary and moral damages, as well as the attorneys’ fees and costs of the suit.

READ: Badoy, co-host sued for red-tagging on SMNI program

This comes after Badoy and Celis repeatedly accused Araullo of being a member, leader, and “urban operative” of the underground communist movement in their program.

Asked for a response, Badoy doubled down on her accusations, even daring Araullo to file a libel charge against her.

“If this so grieves her, she should instead sue me for libel — a crime that can put me behind bars with a hefty fee,” Badoy told INQUIRER.net in a text message.

“But she won’t. And she won’t because I speak the truth. And there is nothing that will stop me from speaking the truth,” Badoy, who served as the undersecretary for the defunct Presidential Communications Operations Office  concurrent to her task as the spokesperson for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, also said.

She also faced similar complaints before the Supreme Court, the Office of the Ombudsman, and the Commission of Elections.

In September last year, Badoy accused a Manila Regional Trial Court judge of having ties with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) after the judge junked a Department of Justice petition to declare the CPP and its armed wing, New People’s Army as a terrorist group.

During the presidential campaign, Badoy also alleged that vice president Leni Robredo has links to the CPP.

To these, Badoy said: “These nuisance cases mean nothing to me.”

JPV