Walden Bello

Prof. Walden Bello has my full support in the filing of his petition before the Supreme Court that essentially seeks to decriminalize libel and cyberlibel. Among the first bills I filed when I became Senator in 2016 was one that specifically aims to remove the penalty of imprisonment for libel. Prof. Walden and I, along with the other speakers of truth to power in our country, know firsthand the dark side of how such draconian measures are being used to stifle dissent, attack free expression, threaten media independence, and ultimately, weaken democracy. No to weaponization of the law. Yes to civil liberties. Let’s always foster an environment for healthy and well-informed debate where no one is unjustly silenced.

READ: https://twitter.com/AttyLeiladeLima/status/1732200073281564688?s=19

Over the last few years, there has been an alarming trend of powerful figures weaponizing the cyberlibel and libel laws to stifle free speech and silence criticism.

The Walden Bello Legal Defense Committee has filed a petition before the SC seeking to declare criminal penalties for libel as unconstitutional.

We are inviting all those who support this cause, especially those who have been victimized by censorious libel suits, to reach out to us so we can help your voice be heard by the SC.

📧[email protected]

🎨Nathan Sarcia

The US is the chief enabler of Israel's continuing massacre of Palestinians.

Cut off US military assistance and the massacre will stop in a second.

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Progressive International

From Progressive International's Global Day of Anti-Imperialist Action

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CELEBRATE THE FREEDOM OF LEILA DE LIMA, SEND RODRIGO DUTERTE TO THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

By Walden Bello*

After 6 years, 10 months, and 21 days, former Senator Leila de Lima is finally free. Judge Gener Gito of Branch 206 of the Regional Trial Court in Muntinglupa, Rizal, granted her bail after she posted a P300,000 bond. Her complete exoneration from the charges leveled against her by the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte is only a matter of time. The three cases charging her with being engaged in drug trafficking collapsed when all key witnesses recanted their testimonies, claiming they were forced by the government to bear false witness against her.

De Lima’s imprisonment has been the most spectacular frame-up in the history of the Philippine judicial system. It was the act of a criminal president who had sworn to take revenge for her daring to investigate the extra-judicial ex*****ons that took place in Davao when he was mayor of that city and throughout the country when he assumed the presidency in 2016. With de Lima out of the way, Duterte’s so-called war on drugs went on to claim some 27,000 lives via extra-judicial ex*****on, according to some estimates.

From the very beginning, those of us who had worked with Senator de Lima knew the charges against her were utterly false and that she was the object of a campaign that involved the use of the most despicable tactics by Duterte and his allies like former Senator Richard Gordon and former Duterte spokesman Harry Roque. As I said at the conference on lawfare or the weaponization of the law held at De La Salle University in February 2020,

"Let me just share my thoughts on two of Duterte’s blitzkrieg methods that proved so effective. One was the blatantly misogynistic line of attack, characterizing Sen Leila as “an immoral woman.” This was, in a very real sense, a witch hunt, a drive to paint this particular woman who had the gall to stand up to the omnipotent patriarch as the source of all society’s evils. One must admit that it was a stroke of evil genius to dredge up Jurassic age prejudices against women, the primordial Samson and Delilah complex about women leading men astray, that primeval fear that Freud called castration anxiety, and to link these subliminal male terrors to the legal accusations that Senator Leila was a high-level enabler of the drug trade.

Related to this misogynistic psycho-strategy was the sheer effrontery of the plan to paint a former Secretary of Justice as being at the center of the country’s illegal drugs problem. This panzer punch was so bold that it stunned people and, among many of those who did not know Senator Leila, it made them question their initial common sense or instinctive reaction that the accusation was utterly false.

Now those of us who knew Senator de Lima and had worked with her and known first-hand her determination to combat injustice knew the accusations were nonsense. I had the opportunity to work with her briefly in pursuing cases against government officials abroad who were treating our OFWs as sexual prey while I was head of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Overseas Workers’ Affairs, and I was thoroughly impressed with her commitment to rectifying injustice. But for those who had not had my chance to work with her, the panzer punch was so outrageously bold that it psychologically destabilized them and made them question their initial reaction to dismiss the charges against Senator Leila as absurd."

Justice has been long in coming, but let not the Marcos, Jr, administration take credit for Senator de Lima’s release. She could have been set free from the very first day of this administration had the president had the courage to defy his predecessor. Instead, she languished in jail for nearly another year and a half, during which time she almost was killed when she was taken hostage by an inmate at the Crame police detention center in October of last year.
It has been pressure from the people that forced the government to release de Lima, one that was mobilized by the Free Leila Committee and channeled to the courtroom by a formidable legal team.

I join the whole country in celebrating the vindication of Senator Leila de Lima and demanding the legal and moral rectification of the outrage perpetrated against her by bringing Rodrigo Duterte, along with his minions, to justice for orchestrating a travesty of truth, morality, and due process. I also join the now universal clamor to send Duterte to the International Criminal Court in the Hague to stand trial for masterminding the extra-judicial ex*****on of thousands of Filipinos. #

―

*Former Congressman Walden Bello is a member of the Free Leila Movement and the recipient of the Most Distinguished Defender of Human Rights Award from Amnesty International Philippines. He has been charged with “cyberlibel” by the camp of Vice President Sara Duterte.

―
You may also read the statement at:
https://waldenbello.org/celebrate-the-freedom-of-leila-de-lima-send-rodrigo-duterte-to-the-international-criminal-court/

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STATEMENT CONDEMNING THE ACQUITTAL OF JOVITO PALPARAN BY MALOLOS RTC

by Dr Walden Bello, Amnesty International Philippines’ Most Distinguished Defender of Human Rights Awardee

On October 6, retired army General Jovito Palparan was acquitted on charges of kidnapping, serious illegal detention, and causing serious physical injuries to Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo.

I vehemently condemn this decision by the Malolos RTC. Palparan, dubbed "The Butcher" for his vicious record, has been implicated in the extra-judicial killing and kidnapping of many activists. The Manalo brothers were abducted by Palparan's men and made to suffer grievous torture and involuntary servitude for more than a year.

What we are seeing is the bastardization of the law, which is supposed to protect against monsters like Palparan, to serve the interests of the butchers. No wonder the Philippines consistently ranks abysmally in assessments of trust of the rule of law. More specifically, this decision by RTC Judge Francisco Felizmenio, who nitpicks at inconsistencies of tesimony of more than a year of torture, enshrines impunity that is afforded to those who commit atrocities against progressives and the Left. It is enabled by as much as it enables the culture of red-tagging and violence against those who dare stand up to the country's ruling classes.

I call upon the higher courts, including the Supreme Court, to review this gross miscarriage of justice.

As we face the failure of liberal legal institutions, its consistent susceptibility to abuse by the elite, we are reminded that true justice can only happen when the marginalized take the reins of society. #

https://waldenbello.org/statement-condemning-the-acquittal-of-jovito-palparan-by-malolos-rtc/

HONOR THE MEMORY OF ATTY ALZATE, END THE CULTURE OF IMPUNITY

Statement of Dr Walden Bello, Amnesty International Philippines’ Most Distinguished Defender of Human Rights Awardee

The Philippines is not safe for advocates of human rights. This is the tragic reality that we confront in the wake of the recent assassination of Atty. Maria Saniata Gonzales Alzate, who was shot in broad daylight in front of her house in Abra.

As the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) reports, this is the third murder of a lawyer under the Marcos administration. Atty. Alzate was a fearless public interest lawyer who spent much of her career providing pro bono legal services to those in need. Earlier this year, she secured legal protection for a victim of illegal arrest, detention, and torture by members of the Philippine National Police. We pay tribute to her not just by mourning but also by continuing our fight for justice. Contrary to his posturing and statements otherwise, President Marcos Jr has inherited the shameful culture of impunity that worsened under Rodrigo Duterte. All attacks against human rights lawyers and defenders are blows against the very fabric that holds our society together.

We must stop the attacks and killings of legal practitioners! Justice for all victims of extrajudicial killings! End the culture of impunity now! #

https://waldenbello.org/honor-the-memory-of-atty-alzate-end-the-culture-of-impunity/

MARCOS JR, DECLARE COOPERATION WITH ICC INVESTIGATION DURING YOUR SONA!

I congratulate the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its decision to proceed with the criminal investigation into the massive violations of human rights committed during the Duterte administration’s so-called war on drugs. This campaign claimed the lives of thousands of innocent Filipinos and further entrenched a culture of impunity and abuse among Philippine law enforcement and government officials. The horrific extra-judicial ex*****ons that took place over six years are a stain on the country's history.

The ICC exercises its functions as a court of last resort if a country’s judicial institutions fail to exercise justice in cases of widespread human rights violations. The Philippine government willingly signed the Rome Statute establishing the ICC, thus making it accountable to the international community for human rights violations and agreeing to have the Court assume jurisdiction over these should its justice system be unable to deal with them.

The Philippine judicial system has proven itself incapable in bringing to justice those responsible for the extra-judicial ex*****on of more than 27,000 Filipinos. Yet it refuses to have the ICC assume responsibility for the process. The reason for this is politics. The Marcos Jr regime’s current attempts to hide behind the technicalities of jurisdiction in order to refuse cooperation with the ICC are a pitiful attempt to appease the partisans of the former president out of fear they might engage in destabilization. This is the same reason it continues to keep former Senator Leila de Lima in jail despite her obvious innocence.

I call upon the president to stop putting politics above justice.

Unlike the Duterte administration, which was marked by lawlessness, the ICC has a sterling record of meticulously respecting the law. Due process will be extended to Duterte, Bato de la Rosa, and the motley crew of murderous criminals that facilitated the horrific atrocities of the war on drugs. These people will be accorded a right that they denied their victims.

Enough of the foot-dragging. Enough of the judicial maneuvers. Let justice take its course. I call upon President Marcos Jr to declare in today's State of the Nation Address that his administration will fully cooperate with the ICC investigation that is about to begin.

The country will not be able to sleep in peace until you are released. Thanks for the message of solidarity from behind prison walls, Senator Leila de Lima.

ON THE DESIGNATION AS TERRORISTS OF SIX CORDILLERAN ACTIVISTS

Statement of Dr Walden Bello, recipient of Amnesty International Philippines' Most Distinguished Defender of Human Rights Award, 2023

On July 10, the Anti-Terrorism Council publicly released a resolution designating six individuals as terrorists. This move is the latest episode of this regime's continued assault and mockery of our democracy, and I condemn it unequivocally. Among the six individuals are Cordilleran activist Jennifer Awingan, who I wrote about a few months ago for her wrongful arrest on trumped-up rebellion charges, and Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) chairperson Windel Bolinget. They have all been identified by the ATC as members of the CPP-NPA.

There are serious concerns about whether the aforementioned activists have been afforded the right to justice and due process that every Filipino deserves. It must be noted that the inutile state institutions have made countless wrongful accusations and breaches of due process against leftist activists, including failing to serve a subpoena to Jennifer Awingan before she was arrested, and many cases would eventually be dropped by courts for failing to meet the basic standard of probable cause. The designation of Bolinget, as reported by rights watchdog Karapatan, comes after he filed a civil suit against police authorities for falsely accusing him of murder.

The designation grants the Anti Money Laundering Council the ability to freeze the financial assets of the aforementioned activists. Aside from limiting their financial mobility on a whim, the move also sends a clear message to those who wish to raise valid concerns about the state and the justice system: that they are enemies of the state and will feel its heavy hand.

Having myself experienced the heavy hand of state oppression, I understand the courage and sacrifice it takes to stand up against injustice, as well as the heavy toll that the state's retribution takes. I have been branded a “narcoterrorist” and also targeted with legal harassment and arrested for “cyberlibel” simply for telling the truth about the activities of powerful political actors.

Activists play a vital role in holding those in power accountable, exposing corruption, and advocating for the marginalized and voiceless. The conflation of criticism of the state and the powerful with terrorism is disgusting and must be opposed. I call upon Malacanang to order the revocation of this decision immediately, and for others who support democracy and human rights to make a clear stand against it. We reiterate our comprehensive call to protect democratic expression: Junk the Anti-Terror Law! Free Leila de Lima! Decriminalize libel!

The Walden Bello Legal Defense Committee will be holding a press conference today at 10AM in order to discuss updates on his legal case, including his revitalized legal team and his recent receipt of the prestigious Amnesty International award.

The event will be livestreamed on this page.

OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF WALDEN BELLO LEGAL DEFENSE COMMITTEE URGING SEC REMULLA TO ACT ON ITS PETITION
March 6, 2023

Walk the talk, Justice Secretary!

The Walden Bello Legal Defense Committee calls upon Justice Secretary Boying Remulla to act on its Petition for Review and look into the spurious case of cyberlibel filed against Walden Bello by VP Sara Duterte's aide.

The Justice Secretary has vowed to speed up and unclog the notoriously slow justice system of the Philippines. In that regard, he has filed DOJ Circular No. 008 (directing prosecutors to immediately withdraw information or criminal charge in cases where there is no “reasonable certainty of conviction") and DOJ Circular No. 027 (underscoring the power of the Secretary of Justice to review resolutions of prosecutors even when a Petition for Review has not been filed). Such resolutions are good in theory, but useless without practice.

We have filed our Petition for Review on July 29, 2022. It was dismissed on August 29 based on mistaken and trivial procedural grounds—a supposed deficiency which we have actually complied with. We stated as much in a Motion for Reconsideration filed on August 31. Finally, we filed an Urgent Motion to Resolve the Petition on January 16, 2023. To date, the Justice Secretary has yet to act.

It is often remarked that justice in the Philippines works only for the privileged few—the rich, the powerful, the allies of the administration. That conclusion can only be bolstered by the acquittal of Secretary Remulla's son on drug trafficking charges in a record 84 days. Or by the six-year inhumane detention of Senator Leila de Lima even as key witnesses continue to recant testimony for her farce of a case. If Secretary Remulla wishes to uphold the spirit of speedy justice upon which his resolutions and statements are found, he must act promptly on all cases.

For its part, the Walden Bello Legal Defense Committee would exhaust all legal means to ensure that justice is upheld in Dr Walden Bello's case, and that the principles of free speech and democracy are protected in its resolution. We invite the Secretary of Justice to make a strong stand in support of those principles by acting favorably on our petition.

Enough with the press releases and grandstanding! Secretary Remulla, it is time to walk the talk! #

I call for the immediate release of Cordilleran activist Jennifer Awingan, who was arrested this morning on the charge of rebellion. Eight others were also charged. This comes months after her daughter, Kara Taggaoa, was also arrested on trumped-up charges of assault.

The brazen abuse of the law by this regime to silence dissent is not new. It is the logical conclusion of a concerted effort by elites to demonize any challenge of their greed and hold over power. It will not end unless all those who value democratic rights and due process stand against it together.



(photo from Kara Taggaoa's Twitter)

UPDATE ON THE ARRAIGNMENT OF WALDEN BELLO FOR HIS CYBERLIBEL CASE

The arraignment of Dr. Walden Bello took place today at RTC Branch 10 in Davao. Our counsel refused to enter a plea owing to our position that the Informations are invalid, forcing Judge Retrina Fuentes to enter a not guilty plea for Walden. In deference to the judge's strong recommendation, a peaceful resolution is being explored by the Davao-based lawyers of both parties. Even as these discussions are taking place, we are going ahead to raise legal questions on cyberlibel brought up by the case against Walden to the Supreme Court.

-Walden Bello Legal Defense Committee

Donate to Walden's Legal Defense Fund:
https://www.facebook.com/WaldenBelloOfficial/posts/pfbid0pfCSGs3bWiksdypQiWjTMSgQpCHkjNkSmCtoRyXTPXwoQCYSeEeeZo7RN7QfVKB5l
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UPDATE ON THE CYBERLIBEL CASE AGAINST WALDEN BELLO FILED BY THE CAMP OF VICE PRESIDENT SARA DUTERTE

After studying the petition to quash the case filed by the defense, Judge Retrina Fuentes of Regional Trial Court 10 has ruled against it. This means that the arraignment of defendant Walden Bello will take place at RTC 10 in Davao on January 26.

Commenting on the judge’s decision, Lead Counsel for the Defense Luke Espiritu said, “We regret the decision of Judge Fuentes but we are preparing for a long fight against the cyberlibel charge against Dr Bello. We remain confident that the courts will ultimately vindicate us.”

Defense Counsel Danilo Baculos added, “We highly appreciate that Judge Retrina Fuentes has been giving Professor Bello all the available remedies provided in the Rules of Court. Though disappointed with the dismissal of the Motion to Quash, we have high hopes that the courts will eventually rule in favor of the basic constitutional right of freedom of expression."

- Walden Bello Legal Defense Committee

Donate to Walden's Legal Fund:
https://www.facebook.com/WaldenBelloOfficial/posts/pfbid0pa4QdHFsxwH5Xa6CRqcLaSfvH3EeqiMK4U2WgvhysEwBRyrea4PZEKMY5gZj7fEal
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