Makabayan solons call for Badoy's resignation; PCOO usec. says no way

Members of the House Makabayan Bloc have called for the immediate resignation of Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy following her social media post in which she called the opposition lawmakers as "high-ranking" members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

“If Usec. Badoy will continue to use her position and taxpayers’ money to criminalize dissent, she might as well leave her post," Gabriela Women's Party Representative Arline Brosas said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Her baseless accusations against activists and legal organizations are dangerous, especially in this political climate where activists who are voicing out the demands of the crisis-hit Filipinos were being red-tagged, illegally arrested, and even killed."

In a Facebook post over the weekend, Badoy, who also serves as spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), tagged Makabayan Bloc members as "high-ranking party members" of the CPP whose goals are to weaken the government until it is totally destroyed "so that the CPP may topple our democracy and install, in its place, communism."

Brosas cried foul over Badoy's remark considering that they are duly-elected members of Congress representing the marginalized sector and have authored measures beneficial for poor Filipinos.

“Let’s not waste more money especially in this pandemic. Ibalik na lang sa taumbayan ang ipinapasweldo kay USec. Badoy at ang pondo para sa NTF-ELCAC lalo na at mas kailangan ng mga Pilipino ngayon ang direktang ayuda at serbisyo,” she said.

Badoy's social media post prompted ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro to move for the suspension of the budget briefing of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) on Wednesday.

Although Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said Badoy made her posts on her official capacity using her own social media accounts, Castro believes the undersecretary's posts "also reflect the official stance of PCOO."

"If the undersecretary continues to stand by her baseless and unprofessional allegations, then she should resign as Undersecretary of the PCOO," Castro said.

Castro called on Badoy to take down her posts and issue a public apology and a statement saying that their "communist-terrorist group theory" are all "false and fabricated."

"Talamak ang pagpapakalat nila ng fake news tungkol sa aming mga miyembro ng Makabayan bloc, mga oposisyong tulad ni Vice President [Leni] Robredo, mga progresibong organisasyon at mga idibidwal. Hindi natin ito hahayaang pagpatuloy lalo ngayong humihingi sila ng badyet sa Kongresong ito," she added.

For her part, Bayan Muna party-list Representative Eufemia Cullamat said Badoy is incapable of performing her duties and is only wasting her time in making fabricated statements against progressive individuals and groups.

"Sayang ang tax ng taong bayan na pansweldo sa kanya, sayang ang milyones na budget para sa isang USec na puro kabulastugan at terror-tagging ang mga aksusasyon sa mga lumad at progresibong organisasyon," she added.

But Badoy, in a Facebook post late Wednesday night, rejected the calls of the Makabayan Bloc members for her to step down from her post.

"I'd be sorely disappointed in myself and see it as inadequacy in doing my job if they didn't ask for anything less," she said.

"Also, I'm not the one who has to resign because I have not deceived the Filipino people nor have I done anything to hurt them," she added.

Badoy maintained that she will defend and protect the Filipino people "till my last breath."

"You can count on that being the truth because I'm no liar," she added. —KBK, GMA News