Re-electionist Senator Leila De Lima called a bad April Fool's Day joke the interview of convicted retired army general Jovito Palparan with anti-communist insurgency task force Spokesperson Lorraine Badoy.

"It came a day too early. A bad joke for April Fool’s Day from the clowns that make up the NTF-ELCAC (National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict)," De Lima said on her dispatch dated April 1.

"Nagkakandarapa sina Badoy at NTF-ELCAC para i-red tag, o tawaging communist sympathizer, ang mga human rights defenders, mga student activist, at mga progresibong organisasyon sa ating bansa (Badoy and NTF-ELCAC are working hard to red tag and call communist sympathizers the human rights defenders, student activists, and progressive groups in our country)," she added.

Badoy was among those who interviewed Palparan in a program aired on SMNI News Channel last March 31.

"Badoy must be so desperate because she is being sued for abusing her office, red-tagging people left and right without any basis that in spite of her years in office, no legitimate case was filed, much less a conviction resulted, from her accusations," De Lima said.

"She found herself a convicted felon who is only too willing to lie to get on the good side of this administration," she added.

It was during De Lima's term as justice secretary that the case against Palparan, who was convicted for the kidnapping of University of the Philippines (UP) students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan, was filed and progressed significantly.

While Palparan accused De Lima of having a hand in his conviction, the former justice chief said that the cases against him are all above-board and based on a solid case backed up by clear evidence.

"The cases were legitimate enough that the judgment was promulgated in 2018, long after I left the DOJ and Duterte was already President. In fact, I was already detained when Palparan was convicted of his crimes. So spare us the nonsense that I had anything to do with this politically," De Lima said.

"Palparan already presented the same lies before, but the evidence of his guilt is so overwhelming that the court decided to convict him anyway," she added.

De Lima stressed that Badoy is now peddling Palparan’s lies because the NTF-ELCAC spokesperson is desperate to fabricate what she sees as a “fairy tale story” linking her, presidential aspirant and Vice President Leni Robredo, and the Liberal Party to the NPA.

Palparan and his two co-accused were sentenced to reclusion perpetua or a prison term ranging from 20 to 40 years, according to the ruling handed down by Judge Alexander Tamayo of the Malolos Regional Trial Court, Branch 15.