By Benjamin Pulta
MANILA – A lawyers’ group on Tuesday denounced the plan of Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) host Jeffrey Celiz to seek political asylum in Canada over alleged safety concerns.
In a statement, the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) pointed out that Celiz is not a dissident seeking refuge from political persecution.
“By his own record, he is a military asset and paid propagandist attempting to evade accountability for years of systematic red-tagging, disinformation, and public vilification of activists and rights defenders,” the NUPL said of the self-confessed former New People’s Army rebel and known supporter of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
“Now, confronted with legal reckoning, he recasts himself as the persecuted.”
Celiz is currently in the United States while facing two civil suits for damages filed by Dr. Carol Araullo, chairperson emeritus of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, and Teddy Casiño, former Bayan Muna Party-list representative.
In a separate civil action, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 306 ordered Celiz and former Duterte administration official Lorraine Badoy to pay PHP2.07 million in damages for red-tagging journalist Atom Araullo.
Celiz is also among several individuals charged in an inciting to sedition case filed by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group for their alleged calls to resist government actions during the operation to arrest religious leader Apollo Quiboloy in Davao City in August last year. (PNA)
