THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers backed the move of its two top union leaders who filed a complaint on Wednesday before the Office of the Ombudsman against Lorraine Badoy of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict and Presidential Communications Operations Office for red-tagging.

The group said that Badoy be held “administratively and criminally liable for her grave violations of public trust and basic human rights and freedoms.”

“We fully welcome and support this overdue measure to seek accountability for Badoy’s incessant, reckless and completely baseless red-tagging, which she has been doing for about three years now. She, a high-ranking public official, has repeatedly used her position and public coffers to spread hatred, fake news, and even to incite violence against those she has arbitrarily tagged as enemies of the state or supporters of supposed terrorist groups,” Raymond Basilio, the group’s secretary general, said.

“Her vicious behavior cannot and shall not be tolerated, we demand that she be immediately suspended from office and an impartial investigation be done to determine her culpabilities,” he added.

The group claimed that Badoy’s and the NTF-ELCAC’s practice of red-tagging caused serious and immense economic damage and physical and mental injury on their victims.

One of the complainants, former ACT Region X Union President Ophelia Tabacon, was subjected to various threats, intimidation, red-tagging and trumped-up charges, it said. This forced her to retire early. The cases against Tabacon were recently dismissed.

Meanwhile, Vladimer Quetua, current president of ACT NCR Union, was also included in red-tagging posters where he was branded as a “recruiter” for the Communist Party of the Philippines.

“Our own experiences are testament to the dire impacts of Badoy’s irresponsible and violative behavior, for which we fully expect Ombudsman to hold her to account. Kung kami nga ay mahigpit na inaasahang sumunod sa code of conduct at maging mabuting ehemplo sa aming mga estudyante at sa publiko, higit lalong malaki ang responsibilidad at pananagutan ng gaya ni Badoy na humahawak ng napakataas na posisyon at pinapasuweldo ng pagkalaki-laki ng mamamayan. Kung mataas ang standard of professionalism sa aming mga guro, dapat mas mataas pa sa mga opisyales ng gobyerno. Kung kaming mga guro ay dapat umiwas sa electioneering dahil sa impluwensiyang mayroon kami, eh hindi ba’t lalo dapat ang kagaya ni Badoy na Undersecretary ng pangunahing opisina sa komunikasyon ng gobyerno?” Basilio said.

The group urged the Ombudsman to launch an investigation on Badoy’s history of red-tagging.