The Presidential Communication Operations Office (PCOO) became the first agency of government to have its budget deliberation suspended during the House deliberations on the P4.506-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2021. This, after members of the Makabayan Bloc moved for the PCOO budget's suspension amid the supposed constant vilification and "red-tagging" of Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy against the militant congressmen. Makabayan solon ACT-Teachers Party-List Rep. France Castro made the motion a few minutes after the Committee on Appropriations chaired by ACT-CIS Party-List Rep. Eric Go Yap opened the briefing on the PCOO's proposed budget of P1.59 billion for next year. Deputy Minority Leader, Bayan Muna Party List Rep. Carlos Zarate seconded the move, after lashing out at Badoy whom he repeatedly called as "an unelected factotum." Zarate said he couldn't stomach the fact that PCOO is asking the House of Representatives for a new budget, only for its officials to use the money in supposedly branding duly-elected lawmakers as New People's Army (NPA) officials, and by extension, "terrorists." "Kung tahasang sasabihin ng isang unelected factotum that we are terrorists here--and alam natin na may batas na ang terrorism--hindi po namin tatanggapin yan (If an unelected factotum is explicitly saying that we are terrorists here--and we know that there's already a law on terrorism--then we will not accept this)," said the lawyer-solon. He pointed to an online post of Badoy wherein she linked the six-member Makabayan Bloc to the NPA--the military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). "Hindi niya ito maikakaila; kami raw nag uutos sa mga NPA na gumawa ng mga opensiba nila. Isang malaking akusasyun yan (She can't deny this; she said we are the ones directing the offensive of the NPA. That is a big accusation)." The visibly fuming Zarate further quoted Badoy, "'The point is they (Makabayan) are not activists, they are terrorists. There's a big difference,' sabi niya (she said)." Badoy, who was at the plenary hall along with the congressmen, acts as spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). “Alam naman natin na kapag tinagurian kang terorista, ni-red tag ka, kamatayan, threatened ang aming buhay (We know that once you are branded a terrorist, you are red-tagged, you face death threats, your life is in danger),” said Castro, who challenged the PCOO official to substantiate her claims while under oath. Zarate further told the panel: "We may differ in position on many issues, but all of us are here in this Congress because we are elected by our constituents. And this unelected factotum should respect that." He added that Badoy's words were "not only an affront to us, but an affront to the institution." In a show of solidarity, nobody among the participating House members objected to Castro's motion. Yap subsequently carried it. PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar distanced the agency from Badoy’s remarks, saying they were personal and that it was posted on her personal social media account. He also said that PCOO doesn't create content for NTF-ELCAC. “That should not affect the rest of the PCOO budget,” said Andanar, who was very respectful toward both Castro and Zarate. Badoy was not given the chance to speak. Yap, for his part, lamented at how "politics" appeared to be the bigger problem in the country despite the persisting public health crisis. "Ang COVID akala ko ito na yung kalaban natin na pinakamahirap na hindi natin nakikita. Pero mayroon pa pala tayong kalaban na mas matindi pa sa COVID. Ito yung tinatawag na pulitika (I thought COVID was the biggest foe that we couldn't see. But there's an even bigger foe than COVID. It's what we call politics)," he said in a manifestation. "Titirahin yung ating Presidente, titirahin yung ating Vice-President, titirahin yung mga congressman, titirahin yung mga executive. Hindi na po natapos ang pulitika kahit may COVID-19 (There are attacks against our President, our Vice- President, our congressmen, and our executive officials. Politics couldn't end even with COVID-19)," Yap added.