{"id":7336,"date":"2022-08-08T17:01:52","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T21:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tempestmag.org\/v01_2020\/staging\/?p=7336"},"modified":"2022-08-12T09:02:34","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T13:02:34","slug":"defend-walden-bello","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/2022\/08\/defend-walden-bello\/","title":{"rendered":"Defend Walden Bello!"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_7340\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7340\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/philstar-walden-bello-image.jpeg\" alt=\"Image of Walden Bello arrested and taking questions from reporters in a room full of press.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7340\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7340\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former vice-presidential candidate Walden Bello was arrested on August 8, 2022 on cyber libel charges filed by former Davao City employee Jefrey Tupas. Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.philstar.com\/headlines\/2022\/08\/08\/2201211\/activist-former-vp-bet-walden-bello-arrested-cyberlibel\">Philstar<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span class=\"dropcap\">Q<\/span>uezon City police served former vice-presidential candidate Walden Bello a warrant of arrest at around 4 p.m. on Monday in relation to the cyberlibel charges filed against him by a former Davao City employee.<\/p>\n<p>Bello is facing two charges and his team said they plan on posting bail of P48,000 for each count. Speaking to the media present during his arrest, Bello said he is \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ABSCBNNews\/status\/1556580811197272064\">innocent of the charge<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">LOOK: Warrant of Arrest served to Walden Bello. Bail is set to P48,000 per case.<\/p>\n<p>Bello is facing two charges &amp; his team says they plan to post bail. <\/p>\n<p>In his Facebook post on Sunday, Bello said he expects to be served &quot;the long-awaited warrant of arrest&quot; this week. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/PhilstarNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PhilstarNews<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gKILSBLl8W\">pic.twitter.com\/gKILSBLl8W<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Kaycee Valmonte (@kayceevalmonte) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/kayceevalmonte\/status\/1556575773901099008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 8, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Press freedom and freedom of expression advocates have long called for the decriminalization of libel, which is often used to harass and silence journalists and dissenters.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"pullquote\">[The arrest of Bello] serves as a warning to democracy and human rights advocates on what would befall them while standing up for the right to express one\u2019s views and criticize wrongdoings by the rich and powerful<\/aside>\n<p>In a Facebook post on Sunday, Bello recalled meeting a supporter at a neighborhood McDonald\u2019s and called the encounter a \u201cgood omen to begin the week,\u201d just before he is served the \u201clong-awaited warrant of arrest for cyberlibel.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7347\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7347\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/bello-fb-post.png\" alt=\"Walden Bello&#039;s facebook post.\" width=\"800\" height=\"540\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7347\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7347\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Copy of Bello&#8217;s Facebook post. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/walden.bello\/posts\/10159330586164332\">Original here<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Bello is facing charges filed by former Davao city information officer Jefry Tupas in March this year after Bello called her a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.philstar.com\/pilipino-star-ngayon\/bansa\/2022\/03\/07\/2165599\/dating-opisyal-ni-sara-duterte-naghain-ng-cyberlibel-vs-vp-candidate-walden-bello\">drug dealer<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tupas was working under for Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio \u2014 since elected vice president \u2014 when she was relieved from her post at the local government. She was found attending a party in Davao de Oro in November last year, where P1.5-million worth of illegal drugs were later seized in the raid.<\/p>\n<p>Tupas said she had already left the party when the arrests happened.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Laban ng Masa \u2014 the socialist coalition that Bello leads \u2014 said the filing of charges and his arrest on Monday \u201cspeaks volumes on the state of democracy and freedom in the Philippines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt also serves as a warning to democracy and human rights advocates on what would befall them while standing up for the right to express one\u2019s views and criticize wrongdoings by the rich and powerful,\u201d the coalition said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Laban ng Masa said Vice President Duterte used her former aide as a front for her own actions. The coalition maintained that the cases filed against Bello is a form of harassment by the vice president herself.<\/p>\n<h4>Espiritu : It was commentary on drug raid<\/h4>\n<p>Lawyer Luke Espiritu, a candidate under the Laban ng Masa slate led by labor leader Ka Leody De Guzman and by Bello, said in a tweet that the former vice-presidential candidate had merely commented on reports that Tupas was among those arrested in the raid but was allegedly released.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAng insidenteng ito ay nagbungsod sa tanong na sa kabila ng pinapangalandakan ng ama ni Sara Duterte na siya ay galit sa droga, bakit nasasangkot sa isyung droga ang mismong malapit kay Meyor Sara Duterte at bakit nangyayari ito sa mismong balwarte ng mga Duterte<\/em>,\u201d [\u201cThat incident prompted the question of why \u2014 despite Sara Duterte\u2019s father\u2019s declarations that he hates drugs \u2014 a person close to Mayor Sara Duterte was linked to a drug issue and why it happened in the Dutertes\u2019 bailiwick\u201d] <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LukeEspirituPH\/status\/1556600964437618690\">he also said on his Twitter account<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Bello, a former congressman for Akbayan party-list, filed a counter affidavit in April and called the charges \u201cpolitically motivated, frivolous, and inconsistent with facts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He was recently declared \u201cpersona non grata\u201d in Davao City for calling it a \u201cdrug center of the South.\u201d In campaign debates this year, he constantly brought up the non-attendance in public debates of the winning presidential and vice presidential tandem of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Duterte.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, Bello was taken to the Quezon City Police Station 8, but was transferred to Camp Karingal on the instructions of Police Brig. Gen. Remus Medina, district director.<\/p>\n<p>De Guzman, Bello\u2019s running mate in the May polls, went to Camp Karingal to support his former vice-presidential bet. The two ran under Partido Lakas ng Masa in the 2022 national elections.<\/p>\n<p><small><em>Featured Image Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.philstar.com\/headlines\/2022\/08\/08\/2201211\/activist-former-vp-bet-walden-bello-arrested-cyberlibel\">Photo<\/a> by Leomar Doctolero; modified by Tempest.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Information on the arrest of Philippine activist, intellectual, and politician Walden Bello and a call to build a campaign in his defense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":7352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,10],"tags":[188,33,351,318,352,350],"class_list":["post-7336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-reprint","tag-free-speech","tag-international-solidarity","tag-journalism","tag-phillipines","tag-state-repression","tag-walter-bello"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/defend-bello.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}