NUPL slams Jeffrey Celiz's asylum bid

The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) has condemned the attempt of self-proclaimed former communist rebel Jeffrey Celiz to seek political asylum in other countries.

“We join activist organizations and human rights advocates in condemning Jeffrey Celiz’s attempt to seek asylum,” the NUPL said in a statement.

“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 group added.

For NUPL, Celiz recasts himself as persecuted now that he is confronted with legal reckoning.

This is an insult to those who have been harassed or imprisoned and a dishonor to the memory of those who disappeared or killed for real acts of dissent, the NUPL emphasized.

The group mentioned that Celiz is now facing two civil suits for damages filed by Dr. Carol Araullo, the chairperson emeritus of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), and Teddy Casiño, BAYAN chair and former Bayan Muna Party-list representative.

Apart from these two, Celiz is facing a separate civil action suit which ordered him and former NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Lorraine Badoy-Partosa to pay P2.07 million in damages to journalist Atom Araullo for red-tagging the latter.

“Freedom of expression is not a shield for impunity. While the Constitution upholds this right, the Civil Code provides clear limits: when speech is used to harm, defame, or intimidate others, it becomes actionable. 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,” the NUPL said.

“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. There must be no sanctuary for lies and no refuge from accountability,” they ended.

In a report of GMA Integrated News stringer Dave Llavanes Jr., Celiz said he has left the Philippines due to alleged harassment directed at him and his family.

Celiz said he is avoiding possible arrest warrants that he claims to be part of a broader campaign of political persecution against supporters of former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is now currently detained at the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.

“The purpose is to really take myself away mula doon sa abusadong ilalabas na, at inilabas na yata, na arrest order ng House of Representatives," Celiz said in an interview with GMA Integrated News in New York.

(The purpose is to really take myself away from the abusive arrest order that will be released or has already been released I think by the House of Representatives.)

“That (asylum) is an option open for me and under the international convention on the protection of civil and political rights. Ang mga persecuted na mga tao sa isang bansa ng kanilang gobyerno ang pwedeng mag-avail niyan," he said.

(Those who are persecuted by their government may avail of that [option].)

Various Filipino migrant and human rights organizations had already expressed strong opposition to Celis’ potential asylum bid in Canada.

In a letter addressed to Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, and MP Jenny Kwan, groups such as Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Migrante International, and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines urged Canadian authorities to deny Celiz’s asylum request.

“Celiz has a documented history of red-tagging, publicly labeling individuals and organizations as affiliated with communist insurgencies, thus putting activists, human rights defenders, and even journalists at grave risk,” the letter stated.

The groups also warned that Celiz’s presence in Canada poses a threat to legitimate victims of political persecution. —KG, GMA Integrated News