The Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) on Wednesday filed a joint position paper to the Philippine Regulation Commission (PRC), calling for the revocation of serial red-tagger Lorraine Badoy-Partosa’s Physician's Certificate of Registration.
Badoy, who is a medical doctor by profession, used to be the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
AHW stressed that immediate action should be taken against Badoy for violating the ethical standards of medical professionals. The group also added that taking swift action on the issue will ensure the safety and well-being of all health workers, health advocates, and human rights defenders in the country.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Lorraine Badoy has been using her position as a medical professional, undersecretary and spokesperson of [the] notorious NTF-ELCAC during the Duterte administration to undermine and discredit [us], a legitimate organization advocating for health workers’ rights and welfare and people’s right to quality health care,” the group said.
The group has been defending itself from malicious red-tagging attempts by Badoy since 2021. Badoy accused the AHW, without basis, as a “front organization” of the Communist Party of the Philippines, during the height of the pandemic where red-tagged health workers were being killed.
The petition lodged last week marked the second attempt by the group to revoke Badoy’s physician license. The first one took place on April 11, 2022, when the group went to the PRC, also due to Badoy’s persistent red-tagging. Three days before that, they sued Badoy with administrative and criminal charges before the Office of the Ombudsman for tagging the group as a “creation of the CPP-NPA-NDF.”
However, on September 12, 2023, the case in the Ombudsman was dismissed due to the lack of a law explicitly prohibiting red-tagging.
The group she pursuantly labels as “terrorist,” is composed of government and private health workers. AHW also lobbied for the creation of laws that support health workers, such as the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers, which ensures the benefits and well-being of government health workers.
Badoy’s legal woes, however, are far from over. On February 29, Badoy was also found guilty of indirect contempt for attacking a judge over a series of Facebook posts. After Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malvar dismissed the petition to consider the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army a terrorist group, Badoy posted on her Facebook page multiple tirades and insults against the judge.
In her post, Badoy threatened to kill Judge Magdoza-Malvar and went as far as to bomb the offices of judges whom she deemed as “friends of terrorists.”
Badoy then followed the post by saying that the judge’s husband, UP Cebu Chancellor Leo Malvar, was a member of the CPP. This prompted UP to release a statement in defense of these grave accusations.
The Supreme Court fined Badoy P30,000 and warned that repetition of similar actions in the future would warrant a more severe sanction.
“We will not just stand idly and [do] nothing while we are unjustly being targeted, attacked and vilified for fighting our legitimate demands for salary increase, job security, release unpaid long overdue benefits, and better working conditions. We demand full accountability and justice for all health workers, health advocates, and human rights defenders,” said Bonifacio Carmona Jr., AHW national officer. ●
