AN association of trial court judges yesterday condemned the vilification of a Manila court judge who junked the government’s case seeking the proscription of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, as terrorist organizations.
The group Hukom Inc. asked judges to stop being silent amid escalating attacks on Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 19 and other trial judges, and their profession.
“Another member of the Bench is again challenged. A much respected, upright and competent judge, after resolving a case against the government over a repealed law, had been red-tagged,” the group said in a statement.
“We members of Hukom Inc., an organization of trial court judges, view these acts-red tagging, online vilification, doxxing and others as attacks on the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. We cannot rest easy and accept them as normal and ordinary. These acts must be called out because of their chilling effect on the exercise of our judicial functions and the lasting damage they cause our institutions,” the group added.
Hukom said prior to the red-tagging and vilification of Magdoza-Malagar, other judges have also been vilified while some have even been killed in the performance of their duties.
The group said members of the bench always fall silent amid the attacks on their members, except for the usual statement of condemnation and call to action.
“As members of the Bench, we call on our fellow judges: Let us refuse to be victims, let us choose to be enablers of the rule of law. Let us not normalize the use of violence against persons as a form of redress by being silent. And we appeal to all sectors to help us serve the public better by allowing us the space to do so without threats, pressures and improper interference,” the group said.
Last year, Mandaluyong RTC Judge Monique Quisumbing-Ignacio was also red-tagged in two tarpaulins hung on footbridges along EDSA after she dismissed charges of illegal possession of firearms filed against activists Lady Ann Salem and Rodrigo Esparago.
The SC, facing calls from various groups, responded to Quisumbing-Ignacio’s red-tagging by issuing a rare, strongly-worded statement condemning threats and killings of lawyers and judges.
Magdoza-Malagar, in a decision dated September 21, junked the government’s case against the CPP-NPA, saying it was not organized for the purpose of engaging or committing terrorism.
“While armed struggle with the violence that necessarily accompanies it, is indubitably the approved means to achieve the CPP-NPA’s purpose, means is not synonymous with purpose. Stated otherwise, armed struggle is only a means to achieve the CPP’s purpose it is not the purpose of the creation of the CPP,” part of the court’s 135-page ruling stated.
One of those who red-tagged Magdoza-Malagar is Lorraine Badoy, former spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, who in a Facebook post Friday accused the judge of “lawyering” for the CPP-NPA when she ruled that rebellion and political crimes are not acts of terrorism.
“So if I kill this judge and I do so out of my political belief that all allies of the CPP NPA NDF (National Democratic Front of the Philippines) 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,” Badoy said.
In two Facebook posts on Saturday, Badoy denied making a hypothetical statement on killing Magdoza-Malagar, calling it “fake news.”
As of Saturday morning, the post was no longer available on her timeline on Facebook.
