Jeffrey "Ka Eric" Celiz (left) and Lorraine Badoy (PPAB)

Former Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog has shared to the House quad-committee (quad-comm) the supposed shenanigans of controversial SMNI host Jeffrey Celiz that led to the latter’s firing as his spokesman. 

In the quad-comm hearing on Thursday, Sept. 20, Mabilog confirmed to the solons that Celiz--whom they had a previous run-in with--once worked as his mouthpiece back in 2012. 

"Since 2013, he was no longer connected with me, your honor,” Mabilog told quad-comm vice chairman, Antipolo City 2nd district Rep. Romeo Acop. 

The ex-mayor revealed that the decision to terminate Celiz came after he received information that the latter had misused his name during a family vacation. 

“But upon information of a city councilor in 2013 that he and his family went to Boracay and used my name to spend his vacation in Boracay, upon learning that, your honor, I terminated the service,” Mabilog explained. 

Acop then referenced Mabilog’s affidavit, and asked about a name mentioned in the supposed drug list of the previous administration as a "member of the House of Representatives" despite not holding an elected position. 

“In paragraph 5 of your affidavit, you said one name was described as a member of the House of Representatives despite not having been elected to any public office. Were you referring to Mr. Celiz?” Acop inquired. 

Mabilog again confirmed, “Yes, Your Honor. His name was mentioned during that fateful night that he is a member of the House of Representatives, your honor.” 

The discussion shifted to the controversial narco-list of former president Rodrigo Duterte, wherein Acop asked if Celiz's name was included in the same list as Mabilog’s. 

Mabilog again affirmed, “Yes, Your Honor.” 

According to paragraph 5 of Mabilog’s affidavit, he said, “The narco-list was later found to be inaccurate on its face after it was proven that two of the individuals included in the said list were long dead before its release, and one name was described to be a member of the House of Representatives despite not having been elected to any public office. 

READ THIS:

https://mb.com.ph/2023/12/5/cited-in-contempt-smni-anchor-celiz-could-spend-holidays-in-house-detention

"Former President Duterte himself acknowledged the unreliability of his narco-list when he subsequently removed the name of the Alcalas of Quezon Province from the list. Also, the Court of Appeals in Veloso v. PDEA et al., CA-G.R. SP No. 00005-WHD, June 8, 2021, even ordered all law enforcement agencies to remove Vicent S.E. Veloso's name from the narco-list after finding that its inclusion therein violated his right to due process,” it read. 

Mabilog went on a seven-year, self-imposed exile in the United States (US) in 2017 for fear of his life after being drug-tagged by then-president Duterte. 

Celiz was cited in contempt by the House Committee on Legislative Franchises last December refusal to divulge to the panel the name of his source for his erroneous report on his program, "Laban Kasama Ang Bayan" on SMNI.  

The report had to do with the fake news item that House Speaker Martin Romualdez spent P1.8 billion on his travels.