Former anti-communist body spokesperson Loraine Badoy on Thursday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to void the show cause order issued against her as it infringes her freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
Badoy with her counsel Harry Roque officially filed her comment on why she should not be cited for indirect contempt for allegedly threatening and red-tagging Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar on a social media post.
“The use of contempt powers of the Supreme Court against a fair criticism by Dr. Badoy in her exercise of journalistic comment of an erroneous decision of a lower court judge constitutes punishment and thus infringes on her freedom of expression and freedom of the press,” Roque said in the 47-page comment.
The former presidential spokesperson also explained that her post were under "fair comment on the matter of public interest."
Moreover, Roque said that her post has no “incendiary language that breaches the clear and present danger rule.”
Last October, the SC issued a show cause order against Badoy after a group of lawyers filed a petition before the SC asking to charge Badoy indirect contempt and punish her over her lengthy Facebook post.
In the Facebook post, she earlier wrote "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."
It was posted days after Magdoza-Malagar junked the justice department’s prescription case to declare the CPP and NPA as terrorist organizations.
'Hypothetical syllogism'
In her defense, Badoy claimed that she did threaten to harm the judge.
“It was an if-then statement. Isa siyang syllogism, hypothetical syllogism. Deductive reasoning iyon at saka wala akong track record na nag t-threaten o nananakit ng tao,” she said told the reporters in an interview before filing the comment.
“Ang may track record niyan ang CPP-NPA. Nowhere on what I wrote was a threat or even an incitement of violence. This is exactly what I’ve been fighting for na tigilan ang bayolensya. There was no threat at all,” Badoy added.
She emphasized that the CPP-NPA will not silence her.
“Gusto niyo pa ba ito? Lagpas 50 years [na ang CPP-NPA]? Dapat itigil na natin ito. Wakasan na natin ito. Walang pwedeng magpa-tahimik sa atin. Lahat sa atin, wala na dapat magpa-tahimik sa atin,” she added.
