ILOILO City – The spokesperson of then mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog disappeared when the city’s chief executive left the metro in 2017 after being linked to illegal drugs by President Rodrigo Duterte a year earlier. Yesterday, after three years, Jeffrey Celiz surfaced and confirmed his being part of the national government’s campaign to dismantle the communist insurgency.
Celiz, who admitted to having been a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), said he is now a government consultant for peace and security – his way of atoning for the years he spent unground trying to topple the government.
“Redemption ko ini sa madamo nga kabataan nga ginguba ko ang future kay gin-recruit namon (to the CPP-NPA),” Celiz said in a telephone interview with DyFM Bombo Radyo Iloilo.
Celiz, who formerly headed the cause-oriented group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) in Panay Island, surfaced after activist Lean Porquia, son of slain Ilonggo activist Jory Porquia, “outed” him on Facebook as the “Ka Eric Almendras” whom Major General Antonio Parlade Jr., chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Southern Luzon Command, presented in Metro Manila the other day as witness to back up a claim that a sister of actress Angel Locsin, Angela “Ella” Colmenares, is an NPA rebel.
Celis, now connected with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, said he had to use an alias “for my safety and security” due to the nature of his work. His other aliases were “Ka Rex” and “Ka Jing”, he said.
UNSOLVED KILLINGS
In his Facebook post on Thursday night, Porquia hinted that Celiz may have a hand in the death of his father who was shot to death in Barangay Sto. Niño Norte, Arevalo district in April 30 this year; the abduction and disappearance of activists Maria Luisa Posa Dominado and Nilo Arado in April 2007 in Oton, Iloilo; and the killing of Aklan Bayan Muna coordinator Fernando Baldomero in June 2010. Celiz denied these.
“I categorically deny my involvement. Indi ina matuod,” he stressed in a separate interview on RMN DyRI-Iloilo.
The cases of Porquia, Dominado, Arado, and Baldomero remain unsolved.
According to Celiz, he was in Tarlac province when Dominado and Arado were abducted, and he was still connected with the CPP-NPA.
“Sang matabo ina, ara ako sa Tarlac sa isa ka safehouse. Ginatawag ina underground house, upod ang mga operatiba sang CPP-NPA. Gapamati kami sang balita, so paano ko ‘na obrahon,” he said.
Celiz vowed to take legal action against Porquia.
“Manabat si Lean Porquia legally sa iya ginaobra nga criminal imputations with baseless proof and evidence. Mangkuton ta ang pulis. Naggwa bala ang ngalan ko sa mga imbestigasyon nga ina halin pa sadto? The police investigation must be more credible and scientific compared sa paghuramentado ni Lean Porquia,” said Celiz.
He then turned the tables on Porquia, challenging the latter to condemn the atrocities of the CPP-NDF. The young activist, however, balked.
Celiz also said party-list groups Bayan Muna, Gabriela, Anakpawis, Kabataan, and ACT Teachers are “fronts” of the CPP-NPA.
‘DEAD MAN WALKING’
Celiz said his surfacing has now made him an open target of rebels. He fears for his life and those of his family.
“Kon mapatay ako, kag sigurado gid nga patyon ako sang CPP-NPA, may kahilabtanan bala si Lean Porquia? May kahilabtanan siya. Kay nagagwa sa iya pagpahayag, sa iya involuntary declaration of information, nga konektado siya sa CPP-NPA,” said Celiz.
He appealed to his neighbors for help.
“Nagapanawagan ako sa aton mga pumuluyo, labi na sa mga kasilingan ko sa Barangay Sooc. Bantay-batayan n’yo ang akon kabataan, ang akon asawa. Lifetime ini nga hunting-ngon ako sang CPP-NPA,” said Celiz.
Celiz now considers himself a “dead man walking”. But why did he choose this difficult path?
“Kay amo ‘ni ang tama. This is the correct redemption – pagbangon kag pagbawi ko sang kasal-anan ko sa pumuluyo, sa pagpanunto, pagpaniplang ko, kag pagsuporta sa isa ka terorista nga organisasyon nga wala sang iban nga ginahandum kundi wasakon ang gobyerno kag patindugon ang komunista nga pagginahum,” he said.
CREDIBILITY QUESTIONED
Porquia questioned Celiz’s credibility. How could people believe a man who has unresolved issues, he said, one of them his having been linked to illegal drugs by no less than the President in August 2016.
That time, Celiz was serving as executive assistant and spokesperson of then Mayor Mabilog whom the President tagged as protector of drug traffickers. Mabilog has denied the charge but, fearing for his life, fled the country in September 2017 together with his family.
That time, according to Celiz, he was already working covertly for a national government project, implying that his inclusion in the narco-list was a ruse. He, however, did not provide details.
“Sang time nga nadala ako sa narco-list, damo ako sang gin-obra covered by confidentiality. It is in the nature of my job as consultant for peace and security,” said Celiz.
But not everyone is impressed with his explanation, such as former Iloilo City councilor Plaridel Nava who had crossed sword with him at city hall several times.
On Facebook, Nava posted: “I have known Celiz for years. He is gifted in drawing untruthful stories to discredit either his own or his handlers’ enemies.”
“At the behest of his boss Jed Mabilog, Celiz was responsible for writing and propagating the so-called ‘white paper’ that maliciously implicated me and some anchormen of Aksyon Radyo in the drug trade in the city. That’s how insane he is,” according to Nava.
Nava theorized that Celiz is clutching at straws to survive after the latter was linked by no less than the President himself to illegal drugs.
“I am no longer surprised of his involvement in the government’s ‘red-tagging’. He has become a loose cannon and a deserter after he was tagged by Duterte as part of the narco-lists. He will do everything to survive,” according to Nava, implying that Celiz has no other choice but do what his supposed handlers are telling him to do, or his life would be in peril.
The former council said that for four years, Celiz “kept in hiding because he knows that the (anti-drug) death squad has been hunting him.”
“His former comrades in the underground have been hunting him. And yes, I have been looking for him, too, because I want to tell him personally that I have already forgiven him, and I’d like to say to him that with all of these, ‘his anticipation of death is worst than death itself,’” stated Nava.
PUBLIC CONFESSION
According to Celiz, he was recruited to the CPP-NPA in college at the West Visayas State University main campus in La Paz district. He joined the youth underground group Kabataang Makabayan (KM).
“Abi ko amo lang na akon padulungan, gali ya kay mang-recruit man ko sang pareho ko nga kabataan. Kag indi lang ko gin-recruit sang KM, gin- recruit ako sang Communist Party of the Philippines. Kaduha ako ka beses nagsumpa nga isulong ang armado nga grupo,” said Celiz.
He then recruited other student leaders, he added.
Eventually, Celiz said he became the chairman of the militant group BAYAN-Panay and one of their accomplishments was organizing the “Erap Resign Movement”.
“It was not a random, spontaneous action. It was a premeditated, calibrated and well-planned systematic broad alliance operation led by the Communist Party. Bangud sina, napatalsik si Erap,” said Celiz, referring to then President Joseph Estrada who stepped down in 2001 just three years into his presidency over allegations of corruption.
From 2002 to 2008, according to Celiz, he went underground and during this period he became acquainted with Ella Colmenares, sister of actress Angel Locsin.
The sisters recently issued a statement belying this allegation of the military.
President Duterte vowed to end the communist insurgency before his term ends in 2022./PN
