By Joseph B.A. Marzan and Francis Allan L. Angelo
A lawyer from Antique hit former activist Jeffrey Celiz or “Ka Eric Almendras” for denying his involvement in the physical attack against an Ilonggo lawyer back in March 2021.
During a webinar hosted by the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) on Monday, Atty. Jobert Pahilga issued a written statement calling out Celiz who denied having a hand in the stabbing of Atty. Angelo Karlo “AK” Guillen.
Pahilga was present in the webinar but he was unable to deliver his speech due to connectivity issues.
Atty. Luchi Perez later read his statement.
Both Pahilga and Guillen are active members of the NUPL, with the former serving as NUPL Second Assistant Secretary-General for Protection and Welfare of Lawyers, and Guillen as Secretary-General of NUPL-Panay.
Pahilga is also the Executive Director of Sentro para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (SENTRA), which provides free legal services to farmers, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, and served as counsel to various progressive organizations and leftist personalities.
NUPL and SENTRA have been tagged as “legal fronts” of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its wings, the New People’s Army (NPA) and the National Democratic Front (NDF), for allegedly recruiting members of the said organizations.
In his statement, Pahilga reiterated his personal knowledge of Celiz’s affairs as a student activist, an activist leader in Iloilo City (1994-2004), English tutor for Koreans in Tagaytay City (2007-2009), and as an employee at the Iloilo City Hall (2010-2016).
In 2016, Duterte wrongfully tagged Celiz as a member of the House of Representatives as Bayan Muna Party-list nominee when the President read his so called narco-list.
In October 2020, Celiz claimed that he was a ranking member of the CPP-NPA-NDF in the 90s until March 2015 under the moniker ‘Ka Eric’.
Celiz currently serves as an “asset” of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
Pahilga said Celiz had continued to accuse him of being a CPP-NPA recruiter.
“After I released a statement, in subsequent media interviews of Mr. Celiz, he would specifically mention my name as an alleged recruiter, member, and officer of the CPP-NPA. (sic) All [threats to my family and life] had happened from November to December 2020 after I exposed Mr. Celiz as a charlatan, a liar, and a drug personality who sold his fake, wild, but malicious story to the military and the NTF-ELCAC to receive protection from them. Sadly, they (sic) believed his story hook, line, and sinker, even when it is just a product of Mr. Celiz’s fertile imagination,” said Pahilga’s statement.
The lawyer also pointed out Celiz’s immediate denial of Guillen’s stabbing on March 3, as well as accusing him, Guillen, and Atty. Pet Melliza, also of the NUPL, as CPP-NPA recruiters.
In his affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court that was also read out during the webinar, Guillen said he was stabbed with a screwdriver on the side of his head, back of the ear, neck, and shoulder, and survived only because the object hit a hard bone.
In radio interviews, Celiz denied his involvement in the stabbing incident and even lambasted the NUPL for tagging the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Guillen’s case.
“The malicious and dangerous red-tagging activities of Mr. Celiz continued even today. When Atty. AK Guillen was stabbed in his temple, Mr. Celiz was the first one to deny the liability of state agents, as if he knew the perpetrators of the frustrated murder of AK. Aside from that, he seemed to have justified the attack by saying that he is also a recruiter and official of the CPP-NPA,” Pahilga said.
Pahilga, along with other lawyers, also reiterated the call to the Supreme Court to intensify its pushback against violence towards lawyers, judges, and other members of the legal profession.
The high court in March condemned these attacks in response to calls by several sectors led by lawyers and former members of the judicial branch.
‘DESPERATION’
In a phone interview Celiz said Pahilga is being desperate after their group of former rebels exposed their alleged links to the CPP-NPA.
“He cannot present proof of our involvement in Atty. Guillen’s case, which is unfortunate for a lawyer. He is desperate because we were comrades in the CPP-NPA before and we were together in several activities. He is saying that we are red-tagging them without proof, but my personal knowledge is proof enough,” Celiz said.
Celiz added that he and Pahilga were together in the Kabataang Makabayan, another group being linked to the rebel movement by the government, during their college days.
He said he is bent on filing a disbarment case against Pahilga for his “malicious and unethical conduct, not just because of his denial in involvement with the rebels, but for putting out baseless accusations.”
“They want to link us to the case of Atty. Guillen out of desperation because this is the first time that someone is exposing them for their links to terrorists. A disbarment case is in order so that he will be stripped of his license for breaking his oath as a lawyer,” Celiz added.
