Human rights lawyers asked the Supreme Court (SC) to take action on the social media attacks against them on top of those hurled against Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Marlo A. Magdoza-Malagar.
Judge Malagar, who ruled that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) are not terrorist organizations, has been subjected to social media attacks, one of them from former National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) Spokesperson Lorraine Marie T. Badoy.
Badoy’s social media posts have been condemned by various lawyers’ organizations with most of them pleading the SC to cite her in contempt of court.
Last Sept. 27, after taking up Badoy’s social media posts, the SC said: "The Court STERNLY WARNS those who continue to incite violence through social media and other means which endanger the lives of judges and their families, and that this SHALL LIKEWISE BE CONSIDERED A CONTEMPT OF THIS COURT and will be dealt with accordingly.”
In a letter to Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo and all SC justices, 485 human rights lawyers – led by National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) President Edre U. Olalia and lawyer Evalyn G. Ursua – said: “We also hope that the Court will address Ms. Badoy’s attacks against human rights lawyers which were part of her attacks against Judge Malagar.”
Their statement, however, did not state the specific post or posts by Badoy against them.
They expressed their gratitude to the SC for tackling the issue on Badoy’s attacks against Malagar in social media.
“We are heartened by this and the Court’s public statement sternly warning those who incite violence which endangers the lives of judges and their families and informing the public that such constitutes contempt of court,” they said in their letter.
“We look forward to the specific action that the Honorable Court will finally take on the matter to exact accountability from Ms. Badoy and others,” they said.
Meanwhile, the lawyers said that they “intend to discuss with our colleagues specific actions that members of the Bar could take to contribute to the many efforts to put an end to the culture of impunity and disrespect for the rule of law in our country.”
“We stand with our Judiciary in its efforts to ensure that ours will always be a society of rules, of democratic and critical discourse, and one that protects human rights,” they declared.