Bello arrested for 2 counts of cyberlibel; bail set at 48,000 pesos per count
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 08 August) – Police arrested former vice presidential candidate Dr. Walden Bello at his house in Quezon City on Monday, nearly two months after the Office of the City Prosecutor here indicted him for two counts of cyber libel filed by former City Information Officer Jefry Tupas.
Bello, who had expected to be served the warrant, told reporters he is “innocent of the charge.”
The arrest warrant was issued by Judge Retrina Espe of the Regional Trial Court Branch 10.
The bail for Bello’s temporary release was fixed at P48,000 for each count.
In a statement, Laban ng Masa (LnM) condemned the filing of cyberlibel charges and the subsequent arrest of Bello, the group’s chair, calling the charges as “state-sponsored persecution and repression of the right to free expression.”
“That a highly-respected and world-renowned scholar-intellectual and activist like Dr. Bello has been victimized by this highhanded police operation speaks volumes on the state of democracy and freedom in the Philippines,” it said.
It added that the arrest serves as a warning to democracy and human rights advocates on “what would befall them while standing up for the right to express one’s views and criticize wrongdoings by the rich and powerful.”
“The cyberlibel case against Dr. Bello is clearly a proxy harassment with no less than Vice President Sara Duterte as the real protagonist. She uses a former aide as a cover for her own vindictive behavior,” he said.it added.
In another statement, former president candidate Leody de Guzman denounced the charges of cyberlibel against his running mate as these were politically motivated, meant to silence the critics of the current administration.
De Guzman called on the lawmakers to pass a measure that would decriminalize libel.
In a seven-page resolution dated June 9, the Office of the City Prosecutor found “defamatory” Bello’s statement, delivered during a live interview and later posted on his verified Facebook account last March 1, 2022, alleging that Tupas and her friends were “snorting P1.5 million worth of drugs” and describing him as a “drug dealer.”
Bello’s post that led to his indictment reads in part: “Mayor Duterte’s Press Information Officer, Jefry Tupas, was nabbed at a beach party where she and her friends were snorting 1.5 million pesos worth of drugs on November 6, 2021. Now, the Mayor’s excuse that she did not know that she was sheltering a drug dealer does not wash, it is not credible.”
It said that there was “a clear malicious imputation of a crime” in Bello’s online content “considering the manner how the statements were conveyed.”
It said that the online content “would show that the respondent (Bello) was imputing to the listeners or the attendees of the virtual forum that he was certain of his allegations against herein complainant as a drug dealer” but added that these imputations were incorrect based on the statements of the complainant’s witnesses.
In a statement released November 9, 2021 via the city government’s Facebook page, then mayor Sara Duterte referred to Tupas as “the former City Information Officer” who was “involved in a drug raid” on in Mabini, Davao de Oro where 1.5 million pesos worth of party drugs were seized in a buy-bust operation.
“The details of the raid are known only to the PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) officers in Davao de Oro and Ms. Tupas. Last Sunday, Jefry signified his resignation and on the same moment he was informed that he is terminated from work with the City Government of Davao,” the mayor said. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
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