KARAPATAN welcomed the ruling of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 306 Presiding Judge Dolly Rose Prado in favor of broadcast journalist Atom Araullo who filed a civil suit against Lorraine Badoy-Partosa and Jeffrey Celiz, anchors of “Laban Kasama ng Bayan,” a red-tagging program aired by SMNI News Channel and republished through SMNI social media accounts. The court ordered Badoy and Celiz to pay Araullo P20 million each in damages.
Badoy and Celiz had red-tagged Atom and his mother, Bayan chairperson emerita Carol Pagaduan Araullo multiple times from August to November 2022. As a result, Atom had been threatened, harassed and intimidated, including in one incident where he and his mother became subjects of a death threat.
“This ruling vindicates not just Atom but many other victims of red-tagging whose lives, liberty and security had been rendered vulnerable as a result,” said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay, “or who, as a consequence, had become victims of graver human rights violations such as extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance or unjust arrest and detention on trumped-up charges.”
“This is an important victory in our struggle against impunity,” she said. “The court ruling established that red-tagging and other similar attacks by state forces are acts that violate people’s rights and can be penalized.”
“Also, Badoy, Celiz and their ilk can no longer maliciously engage in red-tagging and disinformation and then hide behind the mantle of free speech and free expression,” added Palabay. “They can and should be held accountable for spewing lies against, and vilifying, their victims.”
Dr. Carol Araullo and Bayan president Teddy Casiño are also awaiting the court’s decisions in their own civil suits filed against Badoy and Celiz in 2023. “Favorable rulings will encourage more and more red-tagging victims to file their own civil cases to seek justice and indemnification.”