PRESS STATEMENT ON MARIA RESSA

The complaint filed by convicted criminal Maria Ressa (who is on bail pending appeal) against me is nothing more than one more attempt by the CPP NPA NDF to silence the NTF ELCAC because indeed Rappler is a mouthpiece of this terrorist organization.

She has claimed that I have disparaged the Nobel Peace Prize but nothing could have disparaged the Nobel Peace Prize more than the conferment of it on Maria Ressa —someone who’s had no real achievements of her own that promoted peace–except the movies she created in her mind about herself– and someone who has caused much strife with the vicious and outrageous lies–the same lies of the CPP NPA NDF–that she spreads about our country and a much beloved President and his singular contributions to a country that was managing to crawl its way out of the dark and proudly keeping in step with the rest of the world.

And not only has the Nobel Peace Prize been disparaged by Maria Ressa but disparaged beyond repair.

The day it was awarded to her was the day the Nobel Peace Prize died and exposed for what it had come to mean to the Filipino people: a worthless, dangerous trinket conferred by powerful puppet masters on vassals with no real love for country and who willingly do the bidding of their Western overlords to cause war, bloodshed and grief.

She has fashioned herself as a martyr to a gullible Western media by lying about the state of Philippine press in what must be the freest free press in the known democratic world when all she really is is a common criminal convicted of cyberlibel (on bail pending appeal) by the horrid lies she’s told about ordinary citizens using her clout as head of a foreign-funded blogsite that’s violated Philippine SEC laws wholesale.

Rappler has used its highly powerful position as fact-checker of Facebook, a platform with 75 million Filipinos in it, to silence those of us who speak the truth about the CPP NPA NDF. It has been one of its fiercest protectors and defenders– no different from the CPP NPA NDF- created Bulatlat and Kodao.

It has, for instance, insisted that “Lumad” is not a term used by the CPP NPA NDF to make commission of the most horrific crimes against the indigenous peoples easier despite an en banc resolution (No. 08-009-2021 series of 2021) filed by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples denouncing the use of this word “lumad” and where it was resolved “to inform the public to also refrain from using ‘lumad’ in their reference to ICCs/IPs.”

They’ve lent cover to the CPP NPA NDF schools of the Save Our Schools Network, another creation of the CPP NPA NDF like ALCADEV, Salugpungan, TRIFFPS, MISFI– that are in reality terrorist training camps for our indigenous peoples where some of the worst crimes were committed against IPs like recruitment, radicalization, human trafficking, kidnapping, sexual abuse, child abuse, slavery, terrorist financing.

They have consistently, faithfully, tenaciously echoed the lies of the CPP NPA NDF–despite official pronouncements by the Philippine government to the contrary and have therefore put our national security and the safety of our citizens in jeopardy.

Of recent note is their egregious “fact-checking” on the National Security Adviser himself, Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr, when he said that the Makabayan Bloc (also known as KABAG: KABATAAN, ANAKPAWIS, BAYAN MUNA, ACT TEACHERS, GABRIELA) that the NTF ELCAC –including no less than the President of the Republic of the Philippines himself –has identified as urban operatives of the CPP NPA NDF.

In doing so, they have put the lives, liberty and security of the Filipino people in grave danger– more so in the days leading to the May 9 election when the CPP NPA NDF is making a heroic bid to postpone their now inevitable demise by putting back in Congress their most ruthless, most dependable urban operatives, KABAG, to once again, breathe life to a terrorist organization that has, for 53 years brought nothing but grief and destruction to our country.

Maria Ressa has accused me of conduct unbecoming of a “high ranking government official who is expected to observe the highest degree of excellence, professionalism, intelligence and skill”.

I submit that there can be no better conduct of a high government official than to uphold my oath of office to defend and protect the Constitution from all threats and to use the powers vested on me to defeat a terrorist organization that has destroyed our people and our bright promise as a nation.

Like the President whose lead I follow and who has taught so many of us the true meaning of public service, I gladly offer my life to my country and like him, my only regret is that I have but one life to offer.

There is nothing–NOTHING–not the numerous nuisance complaints filed by the CPP NPA NDF and its allies–certainly not Maria Ressa nor Rappler -that will stop the NTF ELCAC from speaking the truth about the CPP NPA NDF and destroying it.

We are grateful to the Filipino people whose love and support we feel. Maraming salamat, mga kababayan. Ramdam na ramdam namin na kasama namin kayo sa laban na ito at nasa frontlines pa talaga kayo. Napapapatunayan nyo na tunay na magiting ang Pilipino at tulad namin sa Task Force, ang balon na pinagkukuhaan nyo ng pagmamahal sa Bayan ay malalim at tila walang katapusan.

Tuloy ang laban para sa ating Bayan.

Magtulungan tayo.

Undersecretary Lorraine Marie T. Badoy

NTF ELCAC Spokesperson for Sectoral Concerns

20 April 2022