Anti-communist task force in the Philippines threatens Rappler with legal action

Lorraine Marie T. Badoy, a spokesperson for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, an organization tasked with raising awareness about communist activities in the Philippines, posted a statement to her official Facebook account saying that the task force "is taking legal action" against Rappler.

Rappler was accused in the statement of spreading "disinformation" in an article on Jan. 31 fact-checking statements by Badoy. Moreover, she said the task force would take action against Facebook for allowing Rappler and Vera Files, the two local news outlets Facebook approved as fact-checkers, to "abuse the immense power of that designation" and harm national security.

In a telephone interview, Rappler's head of digital strategy, Gemma Mendoza, told CPJ that the outlet hadn't received any formal complaints, nor did she know under what law the outlet could be charged.

In an article published on January 31, Rappler called out Badoy's claims that members of the Makabayan Bloc minority political coalition included operatives affiliated with communist guerillas as "false."

The task force had previously accused Rappler of being a "friend and ally" of communist rebels over a separate fact-check in March 2021.

The government practice of claiming journalists and activists are associated with banned communist or leftist groups is known as “red-tagging” in the Philippines, and has resulted in the wrongful criminal suits, detentions, and deaths, according to Rappler.

The founder of Rappler, Maria Ressa, received the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her efforts to safeguard press freedom in the Philippines despite legal threats.