De Lima calls Badoy-Palparan interview a bad April Fool's Day joke

A bad April Fool's Day joke that came a day too early. This is what re-electionist Senator Leila M. de Lima said of the interview of convicted retired army general Jovito Palparan with anti-communist insurgency task force Spokesperson Lorraine Badoy.

De Lima, a social justice and human rights champion, said the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson's desperation led her to use a convicted felon who is only too willing to lie to get on the good side of the administration.

"Nagkakandarapa sina Badoy at NTF-ELCAC para i-red tag, o tawaging communist sympathizer, ang mga human rights defenders, mga student activist, at mga progresibong organisasyon sa ating bansa. Samantala, si Duterte, babalik na naman sa China para humalik sa paanan ng pinuno ng Communist Party of China, si Xi Jin Ping," she said.

"Sino ba sa kanila ang totoong kalaban ng mga Filipino? Ang mga Human Rights Defenders na nagtatanggol sa karapatan ng mga manggagawa at katutubo sa atin, o ang China na gustong nakawin ang ating teritoryo?" she added.

Badoy was among those who interviewed Palparan, who was convicted for the kidnapping of University of the Philippines (UP) students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan, in a program aired on SMNI News Channel last March 31. Said interview was also shared by the NTF-ELCAC Facebook page.

It was during De Lima's term as justice secretary that the case against Palparan, widely tagged as "berdugo" by human rights activists, was filed and progressed significantly.

Palparan accused De Lima of having a hand in his conviction.

For her part, the former justice secretary said that the cases against Palparan are all above-board and based on a solid case backed up by clear evidence.

"The cases were legitimate enough that the judgment was promulgated in 2018, long after I left the DOJ and Duterte was already President. In fact, I was already detained when Palparan was convicted of his crimes. So spare us the nonsense that I had anything to do with this politically," she said.

"Palparan already presented the same lies before, but the evidence of his guilt is so overwhelming that the court decided to convict him anyway," she added.

De Lima stressed that Badoy is now peddling Palparan's lies because the NTF-ELCAC spokesperson is desperate to fabricate what she sees as a "fairy tale story" linking her, presidential aspirant and Vice President Leni Robredo, and the Liberal Party to the NPA.

De Lima added that Badoy only has to ask Palparan about the mayor of Davao City he hated so much for supporting the local NPA command in Davao. "He is no other than Badoy's idol Rodrigo Duterte," she said.

Palparan and his two co-accused were sentenced to reclusion perpetua or a prison term ranging from 20 to 40 years, according to the ruling handed down by Judge Alexander Tamayo of the Malolos Regional Trial Court, Branch 15.