A six-month suspension has been handed down against Lorraine Marie T. Badoy, the former government anti-communist spokesperson and licensed physician, after a medical regulatory board ruled that her red-tagging of fellow health professionals breached the profession’s ethical code.
The penalty stems from a May 8 resolution issued by the Professional Regulatory Board of Medicine under the Philippine Regulatory Commission (PRC), which became public on Saturday, June 27. “Wherefore, in view of the foregoing, the board finds respondent Lorraine Marie T. Badoy guilty of violation of the Revised Code of Ethics of the Medical Profession, which constitutes unethical and unprofessional conduct and accordingly suspends her certificate of registration for a period of six months (6) from finality hereof,” the resolution stated. The board added that “during the period of suspension, respondent is prohibited from engaging in the practice of the medicine.”
The case began in 2022, when nurse Jocelyn Andamo — lead organizer of the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) — and other healthcare workers brought a complaint before the PRC. They accused Badoy of defaming and red-tagging health leaders, unionists, and activists. Central to their case were her public remarks tying community physician Ma. Natividad “Naty” Castro to the Communist Party of the Philippines.
The board’s reasoning turned on the absence of proof behind Badoy’s accusations. “The Board found that Dr. Badoy’s statements clearly referred to AHW and its members; that no official document proved AHW’s alleged CPP-NPA-NDF affiliation; and also found that Dr. Castro was branded a terrorist before any such designation. That is the core of the ruling: grave accusations cannot stand without evidence,” said Rico Domingo, founding chairperson of the Movement Against Disinformation.
In its resolution, the board stressed that Badoy “is bound by higher standards of propriety and decorum” as a physician, noting that her professional obligations remain in force even though she is not engaged in the strict practice of medicine. The board also explained why it stopped short of stripping her license entirely: “Taking into consideration the discussions above, and considering that this is the first offense of Respondent based on Commission records, it is deemed appropriate to impose the lesser penalty of suspension instead of the ultimate penalty of revocation of authority to practice medicine.”
Badoy may only return to practice after submitting an affidavit confirming she has completed the suspension. The PRC, which holds the authority to enforce the country’s regulatory laws governing licensed professionals, oversees that process.
The ruling lands against the backdrop of how Philippine courts have come to treat red-tagging. In the landmark Deduro case, the Supreme Court characterized the practice as a tactic meant to “discourage subversive activities,” warning that it can serve as a likely “precursor to abduction or extrajudicial killing,” and that branding someone a communist can turn them into a “target of vigilantes, paramilitary groups, or even state agents.”
The suspension is not the first sanction Badoy, who served as a spokesperson for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) under former president Rodrigo Duterte, has faced over similar conduct. In 2023, the Office of the Ombudsman reprimanded her and fellow former NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Antonio Parlade Jr. in an administrative case brought by the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, after the two falsely claimed the group operated as a CPP front. The following year, the Supreme Court found her guilty of indirect contempt over what it described as “vitriolic and outright threats” against Manila Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar, fining her P30,000 and warning that any repetition would draw a harsher sanction.
For the complainants, the decision carried weight beyond Badoy’s case. Andamo framed it as part of a continuing fight, declaring: “Patuloy ang ating laban para sa katotohanan at kampanya laban sa vilification ng mga unionists, human rights defenders, at health activists! Ipagtagumpay ang laban ng mamamayan! No to NTF ELCAC!”
