Join the Global Protest and Call for His Release
Joseph Gerson / Campaign for Peace, Disarmament, and Common Security
(August 8, 2022) — Many of you will have learned from Walden Bello in several of our CPDCS webinars. I was shocked and deeply concerned by news of his totally unjust arrest today in the Philippines.
Walden is an outstanding scholar and public intellectual who recently had the audacity to run against the daughter of former President/Dictator Duterte in the Philippines. She has now had him jailed.
As a prolific scholar of extraordinary vision and integrity, a democracy advocate who was forced into exile by the previous Marcos dictatorship, a leader of the Philippines peace and independence movement, and the founder of the Focus on Global South NGO, Walden’s contributions have been enormous.
We need him back in the world and free from the abuses of the new Marcos/Duterte dictatorship.
Announcement of Walden Bello’s Arrest
Laban ng Masa
Laban ng Masa (LnM) condemns in the strongest terms the filing of cyber-libel charges and the subsequent arrest today of its Chairperson, Dr. Walden Bello, by operatives of the Quezon City police.
This is obviously a case of a 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 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’s views and criticize wrongdoings by the rich and powerful.
The cyber-libel 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. Just as Ms. Duterte and her running mate and now President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. had repeatedly cowardly refused to participate in debates with other candidates, so she is now running true to form by putting up a dummy to file the charge against Dr. Bello.
Laban ng Masa is a socialist coalition dedicated to the real transformation of Philippine society from an elite-centered and billionaire-controlled one to a truly democratic and worker-led system. We call on all freedom-loving and democratic people in the country and internationally to denounce Dr. Bello’s unjust arrest and to demand that all charges against him be dropped.
P.S. Walden’s arrest has come just as US Secretary of State Blinken has embraced the new Philippine dictator.
ACTION:
Please Join in Demanding Walden’s Release
- You can send an email to the Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC. atwashington.pe@dfa.gov.ph
- You can also try to get through by phone at 202-769-8049
An Appeal to the Philippine Ambassador
Joseph Gerson / Campaign for Peace, Disarmament, and Common Security
Dear Ambassador Jose Manuel del Gallego Romualdez
I am writing out of shock and deep concern at the news of the arrest by the Quezon City police of Professor Walden Bello, the chairman of Laban ng Masa. I have known and worked with Professor Bello for more than 40 years and have been consistently impressed by his integrity and commitments to justice and peace.
His arrest is obviously a case of a 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 about the lack of democracy and freedom in the Philippines.
The arrest of this Vice-Presidential candidate appears to be an act of retribution by Vice-President Duterte against her opponent in the recent election. It also appears to be designed to serve a chilling warning to democracy and human rights advocates at the time when the son of former dictator Marcos assumes power in the Philippines.
Simply put, Dr. Bello’s arrest is an outrage. We and others will do all that we can to secure his release and to help ensure that human rights and democracy are preserved in the Philippines which is allied to the United States.
With deep concern,
Joseph Gerson (PhD), President, of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament, and Common Security
