FLIGHT, as in most instances, is generally and logically a sign of guilt.
There is no urgent need for Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) host Jeffrey Celiz to seek sanctuary in the United States and apply for asylum in nearby Canada if he is innocent of the charges filed against him, an administration House leader said on Thursday.
“He should be man enough to face his charges here. Nobody is persecuting him. I just want to remind him that he should not be too conscious of his rights as a person and as a journalist,” House Ad Hoc Committee on Marawi Rehabilitation and Victims Compensation Chairman Zia Alonto Adiong of Lanao del Sur said of the broadcast journalist identified with the camp of the Duterte family.
“More than that, he should also be aware about the accompanying responsibilities of being a media practitioner. And I think I have the right to say this: We have so many responsible journalists here fighting it out with their perceived and alleged tormentors. Why can’t he?” Adiong, a House Majority Leader, asked.
“What makes him so special? Is it because he has more resources than his other media colleagues here? One can only think of perhaps the vast resources he has for him to be able to live in upscale New York,” Adiong noted.
Celiz, along with fellow anchor Lorraine Badoy, and lawyer Israelito Torreon, lawyer for detained Pastor Apollo Quiboloy of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, were among the individuals charged in an inciting to sedition case filed by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in relation to the serving of arrest warrants against Quiboloy at the KOJC compound last August.
The case has been submitted for resolution to prosecutors of the Department of Justice.
“Freedom of speech is not absolute. I don’t think he can invoke persecution because it isn’t so. Our country is one of Asia’s freest—if not the freest—when it comes to the press. Our netizens have demonized so many. So, there is no basis for him to say that. It is unfounded, to say the least,” Adiong insisted.
“He was more than free to criticize the government. We had no problem about that. But when he crossed the line, he should have been responsible and brave enough to face the consequences. And if he feels he has nothing to hide, then why seek foreign sanctuary?” he asked.
“As far as I’m concerned, seeking asylum for him and his family is unnecessary,” the Mindanao House leader reiterated. “Mr. Celiz has been accused of violating the law, and now that he is being given the chance to defend himself, he will just run away, evade and seek asylum? I think only cowards do that.”
“In any industry, it has always been a two-way street. If he can give the blows, then I think he should be man enough to also take the hit or the heat – so to speak,” Adiong, one of the leaders of the House of Representatives’ Young Guns”, added.
