SC: Lorraine Badoy guilty of indirect contempt for red tagging judge

FILE PHOTO: Lorraine Badoy during the House inquiry on the alleged fake news peddling and franchise violations of the Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), November 30, 2023. The Supreme Court has found Badoy, former spokesperson of the government’s anti-insurgency task force, guilty of indirect contempt for red-tagging a Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge.| PHOTO FROM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE

MANILA, Philippines — Loraine Badoy-Partosa, former spokesperson of the government’s anti-insurgency task force, has been found guilty by the Supreme Court (SC) of indirect contempt for red-tagging a Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge.

Badoy was ordered to pay a fine of P30,000 and warned against repeating the same or similar acts in the future, or she would be meted a more severe punishment, and this was in a 51-page ruling penned by Associated Justice Marvic Leonen.

Scathing remarks were hurled by the former National Task Force to End Local Communist Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson against Manila RTC Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar on social media in September 2022.

READ: Judge attacked online for junking terror tag on CPP-NPA

Her attacks came after Magdoza-Malagar dismissed the government’s proscription case that sought to declare the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army,  as terrorist organizations.

Badoy called Magdoza-Malagar an “idiot judge” who lawyered for the CPP-NPA. She even made a hypothetical situation about her “killing” the judge – but she can beg the judge for leniency because she did it out of her political beliefs. The post was later deleted and denied.

READ: Badoy, co-host sued for red-tagging on SMNI program

In another post, Badoy asked why Magdoza-Malagar was “so well-versed” about the constitution of the CPP-NPA that only members know. She also mentioned human rights lawyers Edre Olalia, Maria Sol Taule, and Rachel Pastores, asking if they were the ones who wrote the judge’s decision.

“For her vitriolic statements and outright threats against Judge Magdoza-Malagar and the Judiciary, respondent is found guilty of indirect contempt and is fined P 30,000.00 with a warning that repeating the same or similar acts will lead to a more severe penalty,” the SC said in its ruling released on Thursday.

READ: Ombudsman finds ex-NTF-Elcac execs Parlade, Badoy guilty of red-tagging

This SC decision granted the petition filed by legal experts that include former Philippine Bar Association president Rico Domingo; Ateneo Human Rights Center executive director Ray Paolo Santiago; former Ateneo law dean Antonio “Tony” La Viña; Soledad Deriquito-Mawis of the College of Law of Lyceum University; Anna Maria Abad, of Adamson University College of Law; and Rodel Taton, of the Graduate School of Law of San Sebastian College-Recoletos.

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