CHR lauds Atom Araullo court win in ‘red-tagging’ case

This photo taken on June 8, 2021, shows the facade of the Commission on Human Rights office in Quezon City. —File photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA | Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) praised broadcast journalist Atom Araullo’s victory in a civil suit against Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) hosts Lorraine Badoy and Jeffrey Celiz, warning that “red-tagging downplays the truth.”

In a decision dated Dec. 12, 2024, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 306 ordered Badoy and Celiz to pay Araullo P2.07 million for violating provisions of the Civil Code when they tagged the journalist as a member of the communist movement.

“Acts of red-tagging undermine the credibility and professionalism of journalists, negatively affecting press freedom and every citizen’s right to information,” the CHR said in a statement Friday.

“By arbitrarily associating them with communists or terrorists, the truth is placed at risk of being downplayed. This has a detrimental effect on ensuring every Filipino can freely access evidence-based information,” it added.

CHR cited the Supreme Court ruling last May, which declared that acts of red-tagging “threaten one’s life, liberty, or security.”

The commission continued: “We take this opportunity to remind everyone — both public officials and private individuals — that we all have the responsibility to ensure our actions do not infringe upon the rights and liberties of others.”

“Living in a democratic country entails not just enjoying freedoms but also carrying the duty to respect and protect the rights of others,” it added.

Badoy is a former spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), while Celiz is a confessed ex-communist rebel.

The pair of SMNI hosts targeted Araullo and his mother, Carol Araullo, who is chair emeritus of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), in red-tagging sprees on their show “Laban Kasama ng Bayan” (Fighting Alongside the Country).

Atom Araullo was branded a “spawn” of an active Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) central committee leader and was also accused of orchestrating attacks against the government supposedly by producing content aligned with the propaganda of the New People’s Army (NPA), the CPP’s armed wing.

In its ruling, the lower court said that remarks of Badoy and Celiz “were aimed at damaging the plaintiff’s reputation and credibility, both as a person and as a journalist, by associating him with the CPP-NPA-NDF (National Democratic Front) without proof.”

The CHR said: “The Commission is hopeful that this landmark victory, beyond setting a stronger legal precedent for related cases, will further empower victims of red-tagging to seek redress and utilize available legal mechanisms against arbitrary actions that threaten their safety and well-being.”

For her part, Badoy said she will “exhaust all legal remedies until we reach the highest court of the land if need be”, declaring that the “fight was not over.”