Human rights lawyers in the Philippines joined the growing opposition against a red-tagger’s announced attempt to seek asylum in Canada due to alleged political persecution.
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) said it joins other activist organizations and human rights advocates in condemning Jeffrey Celiz’s announcement he is seeking asylum in the North American country.
“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.
Celiz in various media reports have been recently quoted to have announced seeking asylum in Canada because of an arrest order against him by the House of Representatives.
“The purpose is to distance myself from the abusive arrest order being issued—or possibly already issued—by the House of Representatives,” GMA News quoted Celiz to have said.
Celiz reportedly said Philippine Congress is violating his right to free expression.
“If Congress has complaints against our works and pronouncements, they can file cases but not weaponize Congress as a tool for persecution,” he said.
A hybrid committee at the HOR is conducting investigations against influencers allied with former president Rodrigo Duterte it accused of spreading lies against the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government.
But the NUPL said Celiz could not claim persecution as he is an enabler of various human rights violations against real dissenters.
The lawyers also pointed out that the former anti-insurgency task force spokesperson is facing two civil suits for damages filed by Dr. Carol Araullo, chairperson emeritus of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), and Teddy Casiño, BAYAN chair and former Bayan Muna Party-list representative.
“These cases, pending before the Regional Trial Courts of Quezon City and Makati, respectively, seek to hold him to account for deliberate, baseless, and malicious red-tagging—an act that, in this country, carries consequences far beyond reputational harm,” NUPL said.
The union also pointed out that the Quezon City RTC Branch 306 ordered Celiz and fellow National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson Lorraine Badoy to pay P2.07 million in damages to journalist Atom Araullo.
The court said Celiz’s actions violated provisions of the Civil Code protecting individual rights, personal dignity and human relations.
“The court was unequivocal: Red-tagging is, by itself, a manifestation of bad faith. By engaging in red-tagging, the defendants acted grossly and recklessly without regard for truth,” the NUPL said.
What Celiz practiced was not public discourse in a democracy; it was vilification as state policy. His speech did not inform and debate—it incited and endangered, it added.
Earlier, various Canada-based organizations sought Celiz’s expulsion from the North American country because his presence in the said country endangers Filipinos who sought asylum from NTF-ELCAC’s attacks.
READ: Rights defenders ask Canadian government to declare red-tagger Celiz ‘inadmissable’
“Asylum, in international law, is a shield for the persecuted, not a hiding place for the persecutors. If Celiz now fears reprisal, it is not for having spoken truth to power, but for years of trying to silence those who did,” NUPL explained.
“There must be no sanctuary for lies and no refuge from accountability,” the NUPL added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)