PNP to probe Badoy over Facebook post vs. Manila judge, says House budget sponsor

The Philippine National Police (PNP) will probe former anti-insurgency task force spokesperson Lorraine Badoy over her social media post against a Manila trial court judge, a lawmaker said Tuesday.

This came up during the plenary deliberations on the P251-billion proposed budget of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for 2023, upon the questioning of Kabataan party-list Representative Raoul Manuel.

The PNP is under the jurisdiction of the DILG.

Badoy, former spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), has blasted Presiding Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 19 for junking the government's bid to declare the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army (CPP-NPA) as terrorists.

In one Facebook post, which Manuel cited, Badoy said, "If I kill this judge and I do so out of my political belief, then please be lenient with me."

Badoy also expressed her intention to form an organization that will "start bombing the offices of these corrupt judges who are friends of terrorists..."

"Does the police have any intention of arresting her because she is putting the security and life of Judge Malagar at risk? What would be the PNP's action points on this? In this country, we don't even take bomb jokes lightly," Manuel said during the budget deliberation.

Nueva Vizcaya Representative Luisa Lloren Cuaresma, the DILG budget sponsor, said, "The police will investigate, Mr. Speaker," addressing Deputy Speaker Roberto Puno of Antipolo, who was presiding the session at that moment.

"And we will give a copy to the Honorable Raoul Manuel, as to the results of the investigation to be conducted by our PNP," Cuaresma added.

Manuel welcomed the PNP's response, saying the police should not tolerate Badoy's dangerous statements when they once arrested a teacher who offered on social media a P50-million reward to anyone who could kill then-President Rodrigo Duterte.

"We acknowledge the response of the DILG. As it is, it is clear that the police have bias in initiating action against our fellow citizens based on their political belief," Manuel said.

"If the police can arrest someone over a social media post, there is a real threat implied in the social media post of this former NTF-ELCAC official," he added.

GMA News Online has sought Badoy for her comment but she has yet to respond as of posting time. —KBK, GMA News