The Makabayan Bloc has reiterated its dare for Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy to spell out her accusations against the militant congressmen while under oath.
"Make your accusations under oath, but, make no mistake about it because you will be made accountable by your malicious accusations," Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Party-List Rep. Carlos Zarate said Friday.
It was only last Wednesday when another Makabayan stalwart, ACT-Teachers Party-List Rep. France Castro first challenged Badoy to substantiate her claims that the six-member House faction were linked to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA). But Castro required her to take an oath first before the House of Representatives.
At that time, the House Appropriations Committee was scrutinizing the PCOO's proposed budget under the P4.506-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2021. It didn't last long as Castro moved to suspend the consideration of the agency's budget over anger from Badoy's continuous allegations.
The CPP-NPA are considered terrorists by the Philippine government.
"For the record, I am (neither) a member of the CPP nor of the NPA. This squid tactic has been used several times by hawks and fascists to deflect valid issues like human rights violations, corruption, and now, pork barrel in times of pandemicand criss," Zarate said.
"Apparently, Badoy and her ilk are arrogant and emboldened in their terrorist-tagging because it has become a policy ex-cathedra of the Duterte administration. Despite denials, terrorist-tagging or vilification against the opposition obviously is widely being practiced," he said.
Zarate pointed to the anti-Makabayan Bloc posts on social media that were put up by the Philippine National Police (PNP).