Healthcare workers filed an administrative and criminal complaint Thursday against National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson Undersecretary Lorraine Marie Badoy before the Office of the Ombudsman for supposedly red-tagging them.
The Alliance of Health Workers (AHW), represented by Antonio La Viña, urged the people to fight any attempts of red-tagging against health workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Badoy was not immediately available for comment.
The AHW will seek the immediate, preventive suspension and ultimate dismissal from service of NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Lorraine Badoy for red-tagging.
“We know that this is dangerous because our lives are on the line,” AHW national president Robert Mendoza said in an interview with ANC’s “Rundown” on Thursday.
“We filed a complaint of misconduct against the undersecretary and the NTF-ELCAC for red-tagging health workers and frontliners exactly a year ago. We want to make her liable and make her stop and the NTF-ELCAC to stop doing this, to stop red-tagging,” La Viña said.
He was referring to the Philippine News Agency article by Badoy published on April 7, 2021, claiming that the AHW was one of the organizations created by the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines “precisely for the infiltration of government.”
Badoy alleged that the AHW “has infiltrated the Philippine Orthopedic Center, University of the Philippines- Philippine General Hospital, Lung Center of the Philippines, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, even regional/provincial hospitals all the way down to the barangay levels.”
She claimed the underground organization of the AHW was Makabayang Samahang Pangkalusugan.
“We should not allow government officials to do that. They are using the government facilities for their own benefit. We should stop what Usec Badoy is doing,” lawyer Rico Domingo said.
Badoy is also facing complaints before the Ombudsman for red-tagging activists, various groups, and even Vice President Leni Robredo. She has yet to respond to the complaints.