The hunters, commonly known as Duterte regime red-taggers, have become the hunted as the House Committee on Legislative Franchises cited former NTF-ELCAC spokesperson and SMNI talent Lorraine Marie Badoy-Partosa in contempt on December 5.
The committee accused her of refusing to answer queries and showing alleged disrespect through dishonesty.
Badoy-Partosa now faces detention until the committee report is adopted during the plenary session.
This move follows the contempt citation of SMNI host Jeffrey Celiz by the House Legislative Franchise Panel for similar reasons.
Both Celiz and Badoy are notorious red-taggers who have sought to link Duterte’s political critics to the CPP-NPA and rebels.
The decision to cite Celiz in contempt came after he failed to disclose the source of allegedly inaccurate information about Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez’s travel expenses.
Committee members argued that the dissemination of fake news by Celiz on SMNI involves national interest, as Celiz admitted that his source is from the Senate.
The committee also dismissed Celiz’s attempt to invoke the Sotto law, which protects journalists from revealing their sources. This is due to the national security component of the information relayed to Celiz by his source, who might be a government official or employee.
Members of the committee repeatedly warned Celiz for not adhering to the rules and cited his past affiliation with the CPP-NPA as a reminder to observe proper decorum during the proceedings.
Representative Johnny Pimentel of Surigao del Sur 2nd District moved to cite Celiz in contempt and requested his detention until the committee completes its report and forwards it to the plenary.
In response to the contempt citation, Badoy expressed her respect for the committee, stating, “I’m deeply saddened by what I’ve seen today, but I respect the Committee.”
Celiz, on the other hand, responded loudly, “Thank you for this Kangaroo court!” before being escorted out of the hearing room.
Pimentel’s attempt to detain Celiz until he discloses his alleged source from the Senate raised concerns about the indefinite detention of erring resource persons, with Acop reminding the committee of the limitations on such detentions.
Pimentel questioned this rule, expressing worry that Celiz might refrain from disclosing the identity of the person who told him about Speaker Romualdez’s alleged extravagant travel expenses.
The move to hold Celiz accountable came after his repeated failure to answer Representative David Suarez’s request to reveal his source, reportedly from the Senate, during SMNI’s ‘Laban Kasama ng Bayan’ program on November 27.
Celiz had claimed that Romualdez’s expenditure on trips reached P1.8 billion in a year, prompting Suarez to call for an investigation into SMNI by the committee on legislative franchises.
The Daily Netizen 