Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel raised the alleged "double standard" in the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) response to Lorraine Badoy’s social media tirades against a Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge.
Ex-National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson Badoy, in a now-deleted social media post, threatened to kill Manila RTC Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar after the latter ruled that the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) were not a terrorist group.
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During the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) budget debate on Tuesday, Sept. 27, Manuel pointed out to DILG sponsor Nueva Vizacaya lone district Rep. Luisa Cuaresma the action that the PNP took against Ronnel Mas, the teacher who was arrested for placing a P50 million bounty on ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s head. Mas did this via social media.
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“We are citing this kasi may ganitong batayan ang ating kapulisan para mag-aresto ng mga tao (the police has a basis to arrest people) based on issuing death threats sa (on) social media.... Ang dating spokesperson ng NTF-ELCAC na si Badoy ay may similar action din (Ex-NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Badoy had a similar action),” Manuel said.
“Gusto natin malaman kung may intensyon ba ang ating kapulisan na hulihin din siya. Nilalagay na po sa alanganin ang safety, security at buhay ng judge ng Manila RTC (We want to know if the police has the intention of arresting her. She threatened the safety, security, and the life of a Manila RTC judge),” he continued.
Cuaresma acknowledged Manuel’s points and said that the PNP would investigate Badoy. She committed that the PNP would submit the results of the probe to Manuel.
“Para sa atin (For us), clear as day, na may bias ang kapulisan. Nag-iinitiate sila ng action laban sa ating mga kababayan based sa kanilang political belief. Kaya din naman niyang mag-aresto ng (The police is biased. They initiate action against our citizens based on their political beliefs. They can also arrest) ordinary citizens based on their posts,” the youth solon explained..
“With that, ngayong merong real threat implied nitong post sa social media ng isang dating opisyal ng NTF-ELCAC, di po pwedeng ang message na sinesend natin sa mga taong kagaya nito ay untouchable sila at walang repercussions ang actions na kanilang ginagawa (there is a real threat implied with this post by a former official of the NTF-ELCAC. We can’t send the message to people like this that they are untouchable, that their actions have no repercussions),” he concluded.