A lawyers’ group lauded the Supreme Court (SC) for taking action against the “threats” by former Spokesperson Lorraine Marie T. Badoy of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) against Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Marlo A. Magdoza-Malagar.
Badoy’s “threats” in her social media posts against Malagar arose from the judge’s Sept. 21, 2022 ruling which declared that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) are not terrorist organizations.
In a statement, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) expressed hopes that the SC would also take action against Badoy for attacking human rights lawyers in the country in the same social media posts on Malagar.
During its full court session last Tuesday, Oct. 4, the SC directed Badoy to show cause in 30 days why she should not be cited in contempt of court based on her social media posts against Malagar.
Contempt of court is punishable with a fine of at least P30,000 or imprisonment of six months, or both.
NUPL President Edre U. Olalia said: “We are gratified that the High Court has followed through its motu proprio warning to one Lorraine Badoy and for affording her what we value and practice but what she has denied us: due process.”
“We hope the Court also takes good note of the Sept. 26 Statement ‘LAWYERS CALL FOR ACTION AGAINST ATTACKS ON JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE’ signed by 485 lawyers (now 612) which was officially submitted last Sep 30,” Olalia said.
“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 that protect human rights,” he said.
“We also await at the proper time that relative to the factual and legal issues defined by the Court, the cognate issues of red tagging not only on Judge Malagar but also against lawyers be necessarily touched upon in the ultimate resolution of the matter,” he added.
TAGS: #SUPREME COURT; #BADOY