Two hosts of a show in a TV station owned by the controversial Pastor Apollo Quiboloy who used their position to red tag whoever they perceived as enemies of the people lost in a civil suit filed by a newscaster.
Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) hosts Jeffrey Celiz and Lorraine Badoy were ordered by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 306 to pay GMA-7 newscaster Atom Araullo the sum of PHP2.080 million in damages and lawyers’ fees.
Judge Dolly-Rose Bolante Prado said in her decision dated December 12 that Araullo deserved compensation for “the red-tagging and its effects on his personal life and on his career as a journalist.”
Upon learning of the decision, Badoy reportedly collapsed and was rushed to a hospital emergency room.
Badoy had previously served as spokesperson of the Duterte administration’s anti-communist task force.
In a statement to media, Araullo said: “I am elated by the court’s ruling. Above all, this case opens up a legal option for anyone who has been a victim of red-tagging and harmful disinformation, particularly journalists. It is not OK to be attacked or harassed simply for doing our jobs.”
Legal experts said the decision was a potential game changer that could benefit other victims of red-tagging, as it is the first time a decision was based on a Supreme Court ruling publicized only last May that defined red-tagging as a threat to one’s constitutional right to life, liberty, and security.
In her 27-page decision, Judge Prado noted the high court’s definition and said Celiz and Badoy had “deliberately sought to discredit and inflict harm” on Araullo.
Previously, victims of red-tagging had no recourse to legal relief as there was no law that penalizes, much less define, red-tagging.
Past victims had tried filing civil cases against red-taggers, believing that criminal libel suits would only add to the weaponization of the law that had been used against media practitioners before.
The Philippines is one of the few countries in the world where libel is a criminal, rather than civil, offense.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said: “The case also shows how one can seek redress for defamation without resorting to criminal libel, an archaic and anachronistic law that has been used to silence critical reporting, criticism, and dissent.”
The QC court said red-tagging is “inherently malicious.”
From August 2022 to January 2024, Celiz and Badoy repeatedly linked Araullo and his mother Carol – former chairperson of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, a progressive organization that worked against the Marcos dictatorship – to the Communist Party of the Philippines, its armed wing the New People’s Army and the Philippine National Democratic Front.
Even without proof, the pair made the allegations on their talk show and also shared them on SMNI’s social media accounts.
In determining if red-tagging was malicious, the Judge said, it is “an act that threatens fundamental rights inherently carries malice.”
The court also said the burden of proof fell on the defendants, not on the plaintiff. Araullo was a victim of red-tagging and “should not be burdened with the duty of proving malice.”
The court also stated that red-tagging violated the plaintiff’s “right to peace of mind.”
The NUJP added that the decision should also “serve as a warning to red-taggers that the media can, has, and will hold you accountable in as many venues as available.”
Judge Prado rejected the defense of Celiz and Badoy that their statements were their opinions guaranteed under the freedom of speech. She said, “these labels and remarks went beyond mere editorial opinion and fair commentary and, worse, incited backlash, threats and public hatred toward the plaintiff.” —BETING LAYGO DOLOR (Contributing Editor)
