Lorraine Badoy, who has occupied three positions in the Duterte administration in a span of months the last of which is as spokesman of the rigid and infamous National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict by virtue of EO 70 of December 4, 2018, continues to salivate for fame and name recall by red tagging private and public citizens as she pleases. Simply put, she dreads being lost in the memories of the Filipino people.
Her recent red tagging exercise—which she strategically picked because it guarantees top of (people’s) minds for her—is the judiciary where she went as far as threatening to kill a judge she suspected for being friends with the communist left when she ruled that speaking the mind out, even if a person is with the rebel group (CPP-NPA-NDF), is rebellion not terrorism.
Just recently, the Supreme Court warned that inciting violence against a judge will be dealt with and could be considered contempt of the High Court.
“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,” the Supreme Court said in a statement.
In its statement, the High Court also referred to Badoy as “a certain Lorraine Badoy.”
Last week, Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar, presiding judge of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 19, junked the Department of Justice’s proscription case, which sought to declare the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army as terrorists. In her decision, Malagar noted the difference between terrorism and rebellion, and that the atrocities in question did not fall under the definitional elements of terrorism.
Shortly after the release of the decision, Badoy, who is notorious for red-baiting government critics, red-tagged Malagar and called her “friend and defender” of the communist rebels.
Badoy wrote in her Facebook wall:
“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.”
She later denied her statements.
Before the High Court, judges already pushed back against Badoy’s pronouncements and condemned the attacks against Malagar.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court also announced on Tuesday that its en banc tackled motu proprio possible actions against Badoy for issuing threats against Malagar.
Supreme Court spokesperson Brian Hosaka also told reporters that the SC has no order asking Badoy to comment on the matter.
“There has been no such order yet from the Supreme Court since they are still deliberating on the matter,” Hosaka said.
Malagar is the second judge to be red-tagged after Judge Monique Quisumbing-Ignacio of Mandaluyong, who was also tagged in 2021 for freeing two activists. The threats on Ignacio pushed the SC to issue a rare statement vowing to protect members of the legal profession, reported Rappler.
Under the term of former president Rodrigo Duterte alone, at least 66 lawyers were killed – 14 of whom were former or current prosecutors, while nine were retired or former judges and justices.
Budget hearing
It is said that Badoy is still part of the NTF-ELCAC, said a legislator sponsoring the proposed 2023 budget of the Department of Interior and Local Government.
But Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Luisa Cuaresma could not say what Badoy’s current official designation is in the anti-insurgency task force except that she “is not included” in the DILG and that “in the national, she is part of it.”
During plenary debates at the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas quizzed Cuaresma about NTF-Elcac funds under the DILG.
When Cuaresma said that P90 million is being used for meetings of an NTF-ELCAC cluster, Brosas asked if that included payments to Badoy.
“Napaka-laki po no’n Mr. Speaker. Sa mga sinasabi po na clusters kasama ba si dating NTF-Elcac spokesperson Lorraine Badoy, Mr. Speaker? Kasama rin ba siya sa payroll? At ano po ang official designation niya sa NTF-Elcac ngayon?” Brosas asked.
In response, Cuaresma said Badoy is with the national cluster but not with the DILG.
Brosas further questioned the DILG budget sponsor about Badoy’s current official designation at NTF-Elcac but Cuaresma admitted not knowing the particular assignment given to Badoy – if there is one – under the new administration.
Badoy was a part of the NTF-Elcac during the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte, as the anti-insurgency task force’s spokesperson. But it is unclear whether the former undersecretary is still a part of the NTF-Elcac under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s term.
During the term of Duterte, Badoy and retired Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. served as spokespersons of the NTF-Elcac, leading the campaign against allegedly pro-communist groups.
However, both Badoy and Parlade were accused by activists of red-tagging, or linking civilians to communist terrorist groups supposedly without providing much proof. While Badoy and Parlade have maintained that their pronouncements were not red-tagging as they were merely purportedly telling the truth, several organizations have filed complaints against them before the Office of the Ombudsman.
Badoy found herself in hot water again after she accused – in a now-deleted post – a Manila Regional Trial Court judge of lawyering for the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) when the lower court dismissed the government’s petition for proscription that would have declared the CPP-NPA a terrorist organization.
In February 2017, Badoy was appointed assistant secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. A physician by profession, Badoy shared this news on Facebook.
Then Secretary Judy Taguiwalo said Badoy would serve as the focal person of the Office of the Secretary in implementing the medicine assistant to drug dependents undergoing rehabilitation, for which Duterte allotted P1 billion budget.
Badoy is the daughter of former Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Anacleto Badoy, who chaired the antigraft court’s third division that heard the plunder trial of convicted former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.
On Facebook, Badoy called her appointment “a privilege, a duty, and a sacred trust.”
“Today though, I start a new chapter in my life as public servant at the DSWD and where I have a clear shot at changing some of those lives for better and with resources I’ve never had at my disposal all those years I did my thing,” she said.
Ibon Foundation
In January 2020, Badoy was again in the news when she discredited Ibon Foundation, which proved her data on employment and the number of Filipinos lifted out of poverty over The Chiefs program, to which she accused the think tank research group as a front of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army.
“Ibon is an above-ground organization of the CPP-NPA-NDF movement unless you’d like to deny that. There’s nothing that will ever come out that’s good about this government or any government from Ibon Foundation,” she said.
Lingao later corrected her that both Ibon and the communist coalition are legal given the repeal of the anti-subversion law.
However, she went on and claimed that the end goal of these organizations is
“to overthrow governments.”
Ibon Foundation’s report focused on the macroeconomic figures including the number of jobs generated and that of the Filipinos uplifted from poverty.
The report titled “Real Duterte Legacy” covered only information for 2019. Data were sourced from the Philippine Statistics Authority, Bureau of the Treasury, Philhealth, Philippine Institute for Development Studies and Save our Schools Network.
In July 2022, she red tagged the Angat Buhay Foundation of former Vice President Leni Robredo saying
“the people behind the Angat Buhay is CPP-NPA-NDF. In fact, they are now on social media , mga nanay na naghahanap ng mga anak nila, na wala na, wala na, hindi na nila makita, at ito ‘yung mga sumali ng Leni Youth,” Badoy claimed.
Angat Buhay – registered as Angat Pinas, Incorporated – is the NGO launched by Robredo a day after her term as vice president ended on July 1. It’s generally focused on continuing the advocacy work Robredo spearheaded when she was an incumbent official.
Angat Buhay is run by civilians not affiliated with communist rebels and it does not have a “Leni Youth” arm, contrary to Badoy’s claims.
Badoy made the accusations against Angat Buhay via a show that aired on SMNI, the media outfit owned by fugitive preacher Apollo Quiboloy, a known ally of former president Rodrigo Duterte and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Badoy’s red-tagging activities has become so relentless that she is now facing multiple complaints filed by several progressive leaders, lawmakers, groups of medical professionals, and concerned citizens.
In April, Nobel laureate and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa also f iled an administrative complaint against Badoy over her “malicious and defamatory” posts and articles against the journalist.
Angat Buhay
On July 8, Angat Buhay executive director Raffy Magno condemned and unequivocally denied Badoy’s allegations, saying they were eyeing legal action against her.
“Her claims are utterly baseless and completely false, and worse, encourage the harassment of our staff members, volunteers, and partners,” Magno said.
He said Angat Buhay’s lawyers are now in preparing possible legal action “to protect the integrity of our organization and our work and, more so, to protect our volunteers and partners.”
Magno gave assurances to Angat Buhay’s supporters that they would not take Badoy’s accusations sitting down.
“We will not allow these efforts to sabotage our work to prosper. The time to stand up to fake news and hold its purveyors to account is now. As with our Chairperson, former Vice President Leni Robredo, our word is our bond. Thank you for standing with us,” said Magno.
Desire for perpetuity
Curiously, despite Badoy’s persistent trending in Twitter and other social media platforms, she is still not being written by Wikipedia. Perhaps this is what drives her like a loose cannon—Her desire for perpetuity in the written and digital world.
Suffice to say, she is rich—estimates of her wealth is anywhere between $6 and $9 million which ballooned in 2017 and 2018. Outside of her constant mention of her husband’s name, no other information is known about him and her children, if any.