High court finds Badoy guilty of contempt

THE Supreme Court has found former National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) spokesman Lorraine Badoy guilty of indirect contempt for lashing out on social media against a Manila judge.

In a decision penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the Supreme Court en banc also fined Badoy P30,000.

The case stemmed from the insults hurled by Badoy at Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 19 Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar.

On Sept. 21, 2022, MagdozaMalagar dismissed the petition of the Department of Justice (DoJ) to ban the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-New People’s Army (NPA) as a terrorist group.

Two days later, Badoy took to her Facebook page to launch insults against Magdoza-Malagar.

She claimed that the judge had befriended the CPP-NPA-National Democratic Front (NDF) and “weaponiz[ed] a court of law to further inflict harm on a people that have long suffered the excesses and inhumanities of the CPP-NPA-NDF.”

Badoy also threatened to kill the judge. “So 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,” Badoy said in her post.

In a second post on the same day, Badoy threatened to bomb the offices of judges whom she deemed as “friends of terrorists.”

The next day, Badoy made another post, describing Magdoza-Malagar as “unprincipled and rotten,” and claiming that the judge’s husband was a member of the CPP.

The posts of Badoy, who has over 166,000 Facebook followers, generated comments, remarks, images, and videos openly supporting her statements and even offering assistance.

Badoy would later compile the responses and upload them as another post.

Her statements prompted a group of lawyers to petition the Supreme Court to cite her for indirect contempt.

In resolving the petition, the high court stressed the need to balance the exercise of free speech and the protection of judicial independence.

“One’s right to freedom of expression must be as fully protected as possible; however, its exercise must never transgress the equally important aspects of democracy, not least of all the Judiciary’s dignity and authority,” the Supreme Court stated.

“By merely having access to social media, private individuals could publish their thoughts without the need of self-policing or adhering to the ethical standards required of the press. As a result, content could be created and shared with abandon, purely for clout or for ‘likes,’ and even in disregard of the truth,” it added.

While the freedoms of expression, speech, and the press include the right to criticize judicial conduct, such exercise must not threaten judicial independence, the high court ruled.

Indirect contempt involves actions that are committed not within the presence of the court, including improper conduct that tend, directly or indirectly, to impede, obstruct, or degrade the administration of justice.

The Supreme Court noted that the power to cite for contempt is essential to preserve order in judicial proceedings, and for courts to enforce their judgments, orders, and mandates and ensure the due administration of justice. It also prevents “the proliferation of untruths which, if unrefuted, would gain an undue influence in the public discourse.”

“Judges who are the subject of fake news in their judicial capacity are prevented by propriety from defending themselves through social media or explaining themselves through a representative. They may only defend themselves in the proper forum — in contempt proceedings,” it said.

In a statement to The Manila Times, Badoy said that while she apologized to the Supreme Court for the “intemperate” language that she used, she will never apologize for what she called as an “outrageous” decision by Magdoza-Malagar.

She also said she never threatened anyone with harm.

Badoy said the CPP-NPA-NDF is the “15th deadliest terrorist organization in the world and listed as ‘terrorist’ in the US, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, Australia, the United Nations, European Union, the Philippines.”

She said she cannot “apologize for the outrage I felt that made me take pen to paper and pour my heart out — an outrage that I feel to this day.”

She believes that those who want her silenced have “lost” once again, since she believes the Supreme Court ruling merely cautioned her to be “more circumspect and to rein it a bit more.”

Badoy dedicated her “victory” to two slain individuals: lawyer Hannah Jay Cesista, a member of the Anakbayan and National Union of People’s Lawyers who was killed in an ambush in Bilar, Bohol, and Police Cpl. Gilbert Amper who also died in that clash.