By Charmaine Delos Santos

PHOTO: Global Daily Mirror

Angat Pinas Executive Director Raphael Martin Magno on Friday has denied what he described as ‘shameless' and 'baseless’ accusations of serial red-tagger Lorraine Badoy about the organization’s alleged youth recruitment and affiliation with communists.

In a TV show appearance, the former National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson claimed that Angat Buhay is supposedly run with people from the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).

In addition, Badoy alleged that there were mothers online that were looking for missing children who she said had joined "Leni Youth." 

In response, Magno has condemned Badoy's accusations and said that the organization is now preparing for "possible legal actions" about this matter.

“As soon as our attention was called to the matter, we referred the same to our lawyers who are now in the process of preparing possible legal actions to protect the integrity of our organization and our work and, more so, to protect our volunteers and partners,” Magno stated in an Angat Buhay’s Facebook post.
 
Furthermore, he assured the public that there will be no doors for sabotage to ruin Angat Buhay's efforts, as the organization will continue standing up against fake news and holding its purveyors accountable.

“We will continue our work as a private, non-government organization to empower marginalized communities and sectors. Our work is beyond personalities and politics,” Magno added.

Badoy is notorious for accusing government critics as part of CPP-NPA-NDF. She is now facing multiple complaints from doctors, journalists, progressive groups, and concerned citizens filed on the Ombudsman.  

Angat Buhay Program is a project of the Office of the Vice President launched in October 2016 that aims to fight against poverty.
 
In former Vice President Leni Robredo’s thanksgiving event on May 13, she stated that the said program would be launched as a non-governmental organization after her  term as vice president.
 
With Robredo now leading as chairperson, Angat Buhay NGO was launched under the incorporate name “Angat Pinas Incorporated” on July 1..
 
“No’ng May 13 na pasasalamat, ‘yung isa sa mga sinabi natin do’n, hindi dapat masayang ‘yung magandang nasimulan natin. Hindi man tayo nagwagi, nagtagumpay pa rin tayo... At hindi pwede na mapupunta sa wala ‘yung ating naumpisahan,” Robredo stated.
 

Edited by Kyla Balatbat