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Walden Bello is a scholar, dissident, and internationalist. He is the founder and chairperson of the left-wing alliance Laban ng Masa and served as a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines. He co-founded Focus on the Global South, and led critical mobilisations against the WTO and G8 in the 1990s. Bello was given the Right Livelihood Award in 2003 and named Outstanding Public Scholar by the International Studies Association in 2008. He is a member of the Progressive International Council.

In the early 1980s, while campaigning on human rights, Bello witnessed how US-based global financial institutions, the World Bank and IMF, actively supported the regime of dictator Ferdinand Marocs Sr (1965–86) in the Philippines. Bello broke into the World Bank's Washington headquarters to obtain 3,000 pages of private documents to reveal their complicity. These served as the source material for his 1982 book Development Debacle: the World Bank in the Philippines, which aided in the growth of the citizen movement that led to Marcos' eventual overthrow in 1986.  

The following is an exclusive, first-hand account of his arrest and detention on the wrongful charges of cyber libel. Bello’s initial date of indictment was 27 October 2022. As of now, the date has been pushed to January 2023.

On 8 August 2022, Philippine National Police (PNP) officers arrived at my home to arrest me on two counts of cyber libel charges. Since the arrest was made shortly before 5 pm, it was impossible to process a bail, forcing me to spend the night in custody. At around 4 pm the next day, 9 August, I was released from detention after posting a cash bond. As an internationally recognised human rights activist in the Philippines, many were shocked at my arrest and detention. 

People interpret my arrest and detention as a response to my run for vice president against Sara Duterte, daughter of the controversial former president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte. It has also been seen as the first significant assault on democratic rights under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who had assumed power barely six weeks before.  The massive outpouring of support for me, in both the Philippines and internationally, confirms that people realize that my welfare is not the only thing at stake here; this bogus case presents a major assault on our freedoms.

The charge of cyber libel was lodged in March 2022 by Jefry Tupas, former Press Information Officer of then Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte. The charge was made after my communications team created a Facebook post that brought to focus Tupas’ presence at a party in Mabini, Davao de Oro, in November 2021, where illegal drugs were in use. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) subsequently raided the party. Despite multiple news stories at the time reporting on her presence at the party, Tupas claimed she was defamed by me, promptly pressing criminal charges and filing a suit to the tune of P10 million (approx USD170,000). She did not press charges or sue the many journalists and news agencies who covered her attendance at the party.

After my arrest, I made my feelings clear: this is a case of political persecution. The Facebook post had intended to question Sara Duterte’s leadership capabilities when she was mayor of Davao City; had she known then that one of her subordinates was attending a party where large amounts of drugs were in circulation? Did she condone this behavior?

The timing of the Facebook post also coincided with a public call I made to Duterte, challenging her to participate in televised national debates that were taking place with all the vice presidential candidates. Rather than participating, Duterte’s team filed these cyber libel charges against me. They had the City Council of Davao declare me “persona non grata” and label me a “narco-politician.” The latter had serious negative implications for my physical security in a country where thousands have been executed for allegedly being drug users and peddlers in the so-called “war on drugs” waged by her father, the former president, Rodrigo Duterte.

It is obvious that Duterte and her camp felt threatened by our Presidential campaign. As the running mate of Leody de Guzman, a prominent labor leader, our campaign for “democratic socialism” offered the most hopeful alternative to the Marcos Jr and Sara Duterte ticket. We also conducted the most aggressive campaign against the alliance of the Marcos and Duterte dynasties, labeling it “the axis of evil.”  When I said “Fuck you, Marcos,” on prime-time television, my words quickly became a battle cry for the many opposed to the return of the Marcoses.

The charge of cyber libel lodged against me is a brazen case of weaponizing the law against the critics of those in power.  This is a dangerous trend in the Philippines where 3,770 claims of cyber libel have been filed since 2012, many of them by political personalities seeking to silence their opponents. The most infamous of these has been the case lodged against Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa, Chief Executive Officer of the pioneering online news and information agency, Rappler.  Owing to this, calls to decriminalise libel and cyber libel by concerned citizens have increased.

As my fate hangs in the balance, my trial in Davao City, the home turf of Vice President Duterte, is expected to be just the beginning of an agonizing and drawn-out process.  Libel and cyber libel cases are notoriously protracted in the Philippines. They not only intimidate and silence those accused, but also bankrupt them, with defendants facing the prospect of lengthy and costly litigation. In the cyber libel case against Ressa, for instance, the legal proceedings have dragged on for five years and are yet to reach the Supreme Court, which will be the ultimate arbiter.  

Despite the daunting challenge of facing off against a government with formidable resources, I am determined to fight the cyber libel charge with all the energy and resources that I  can muster because, ultimately, this is about more than just me; it is about free speech in the Philippines and beyond.

Editorial note: The charges of cyber libel lodged against Bello are a clear act of political persecution. Libel law is being weaponised to silence a man who has been one of the administration’s biggest critics. Walden Bello is determined to fight the charges against him but will need support to do so. You can donate to his ongoing fight through the following links: 

Facebook; Twitter; GoGetFunding

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