LORRAINE Badoy, a well-known supporter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, was suspended for six months by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) Board of Medicine after being found guilty of violating the Revised Code of Ethics of the Medical Profession.
The PRC also suspended her certificate of registration for six months, effective upon finality.
According to a Facebook statement by the Movement Against Disinformation (MAD) on Saturday, the cases against Badoy stemmed from her public statements linking the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW), its members and community physician Dr. Ma. Natividad “Naty” Castro to the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
In 2022, the AHW requested the revocation of Badoy’s medical license over her alleged red-tagging, with 17 doctors seeking her suspension because of her “deeply unprofessional” remarks.
“This decision matters because it brings the issue back to proof... The Board found that Badoy’s statements clearly referred to AHW and its members without any official document proving 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,” MAD founding chairman Rico Domingo said.
“A medical license carries public trust... It cannot become a shield for reckless, evidence-free vilification... The Board understood the real-world stakes: these statements targeted health workers at the very time they were risking their lives in the pandemic and answering allegations from a public official who belonged to the same profession,” he added.
The PRC Board of Medicine said that Badoy “admitted to posting the statements that are the subject of the complaints, including the public identification of Dr. Castro as an active member, recruiter, trainer and fundraiser of the CPP-NPA-NDF,” and added that she “failed to protect not only the good name of a colleague, but also the reputation and dignity of physicians and allied health professionals engaged in community health service.”
MAD President Tony La Viña said the PRC decision “strengthens the ethical line between legitimate expression and unsupported public accusation.”
“The Board was clear: physicians remain bound by professional responsibilities even outside the strict practice of medicine... That principle is vital. Public speech may be free, but a professional who uses status, platform and office to attach dangerous labels to real people must answer to professional standards,” he said.
La Viña said the PRC decision was about accountability, not censorship.
“The PRC decision recognizes what victims of disinformation have long known: unsupported labels can endanger lives, damage reputations and poison the public trust... For MAD, the message is direct: facts must defeat fear, and institutions must impose consequences when falsehoods place people at risk,” La Viña, a veteran lawyer, said.
“The PRC Decision sends a clear message: professional privilege carries public responsibility and no public platform should excuse allegations that lack evidence and harm the safety, reputation and dignity of health workers,” he added.
The anti-disinformation movement called on professional regulatory bodies, public officials, the media and platforms to treat red-tagging and disinformation as matters of accountability rather than mere political noise.
During the Duterte administration, Badoy served as a spokesman for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
