MANILA, Philippines (Updated 8 p.m.) — Partido Lakas ng Masa vice presidential bet Walden Bello on Wednesday has filed his counter affidavit against a cyber libel case filed by former Davao city information officer Jefry Tupas.
To recall, Tupas filed the case against Bello after the VP candidate called him a “drug dealer." Tupas, who was working under VP candidate and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, was eventually relieved from his employment at the local city government last year after attending a party where P1.5-million worth of illegal drugs were seized in a raid.
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READ: ‘No special treatment for ex-Davao info officer’
Bello went to the Office of the City Prosecutor in Davao with his lead counsel and Laban ng Masa and PLM Senate bet Luke Espiritu.
“We’re going all the way in the defense of Walden, as his case is emblematic of the wider repression of dissent by the state,” Espiritu was quoted in a statement.
Both Bello and Espiritu condemned the cyber libel case, saying it was “politically motivated, frivolous, and inconsistent with the facts.”
After filing his counter affidavit, Bello then went to the Sangguniang Bayan to get a copy of the resolution of the Davao City Council’s declaring him a “persona non grata” due to his allegations during a televised debate.
Walden capped off his filing by visiting the Sangguniang Bayan of Davao, asking for a copy of the resolution of the Davao City Council declaring him persona non grata. pic.twitter.com/5r8oBM6UwM
— Walden Bello (@WaldenBello) April 20, 2022
Bello called Davao City a “drug center of the South under the control of a member of the Duterte family” during the Commission on Elections’ vice presidential debate held last month.
The accusations have been disputed by local authorities and a Senate hearing in 2017 did not find evidence to back the claims.
He has also been calling out fellow vice-presidential candidate Duterte-Carpio for not attending the debates.
READ: Walden Bello ‘persona non grata’ in Davao City over drugs, corruption comments
“The way Sara Duterte has reacted to our challenge for a debate — declaring me persona non grata in Davao, filing cyberlibel charges, calling me a narcopolitician — is a preview of how she will address issues if she were to win the election, not by rational discussion but by mechanisms of character assassination and other underhanded methods,” Bello said.
PLM’s vice-presidential candidate saidVice Mayor Sebastian Duterte, the president's son, continued to evade the issues surrounding the alleged drug trade in the city.
The vice mayor, in a statement, said that the action might have been Bello’s way to “gain traction and attention to their ailing campaign.”
In an earlier Twitter post, Bello said he entered the Davao city Session Hall earlier after getting a copy of the resolution of the Davao City Council. He called those who banned him from Davao City a persona non grata “in the eyes of the Filipino people.”
Like father, like daughter, like brother. Baste Duterte’s statement evades the issues: what was his sister’s aide doing at a party raided for drugs by PDEA? How did his city become the drug capital of the South?
Don’t be like your sister, Baste. Huwag maging talawan. pic.twitter.com/aJ6GDf53eR— Walden Bello (@WaldenBello) April 20, 2022