Former National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson Lorraine Badoy is “not even a consultant” for the Office of the President (OP) or the anti-insurgency task force, a lawmaker said on Wednesday, Sept. 28, amid the controversy the former official stirred for threatening a judge.
Navotas City Rep. Tobias Tiangco, the sponsor of the OP’s 2023 budget, denied that Badoy is currently part of the OP or the NTF-ELCAC, which was formed during the Duterte administration to tackle the ongoing communist rebellion in the country.
“Mr. Speaker, dear colleague, she is not even a consultant of the OP or the NTF-ELCAC,” he said during the plenary session for the OP’s proposed budget.
He stated this after ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro and Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas questioned Badoy’s role in government after she threatened Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar, presiding judge of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 19, in a now-deleted social media post.
The former NTF-ELCAC spokesperson called Malagar, who junked the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) proscription case seeking to declare the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) as terrorists, a “friend and defender” of communist rebels.
She wrote: “if I kill this judge and I do so out of my political belief that all allies of the CPP- NPA-NDF must be killed because there is no difference in my mind between a member of the CPP-NPA-NDF and their friends, then please be lenient with me.”
The Supreme Court (SC) then issued a stern warning against “those who continue to incite violence through social media and other means which endanger the lives of judges and their families.”
READ: Lawyers ask SC to act on Badoy’s FB posts vs RTC Judge Malagar on CPP-NPA ruling
It said that “this shall likewise be considered a contempt of this court and will be dealt with accordingly.”
Castro raised the question about Badoy’s employment in government because the OP is the national secretariat of the NTF-ELCAC and the President stands as the chair.
Tiangco, who revealed that the NTF-ELCAC has a P100-million allocated budget, denied that Badoy and a certain Jeffrey Celiz or Ka Eric are being funded by the OP.
Celiz was said to be a military whistleblower and a former officer of the NPA. He and Badoy have become notorious for red-tagging individuals and activists speaking out against the government.
“Dati po silang (They were part before of) PCOO (Presidential Communications Group Office) pero hindi po sila naging empleyado ng (but they were never employees of) OP . . . Wala po sila (They were not) even ever since before, Mr. Speaker, dear colleagues, hindi po sila naging part ng (they were never part of) OP,” the lawmaker said.