Grace Saron and Ezra Francisquete/UM Intern April 22, 2022 – VICE presidential aspirant Walden Bello has turned the tables on the city council for declaring him persona non-grata.
After filing his counter-affidavit before the City Prosecution Office on Wednesday, Bello, accompanied by senatorial candidate Luke Espiritu, went to the city council to secure the copy of the resolution declaring him persona-non-grata.
In a social media post of his party Partido Lakas ng Masa, Bello even went to the chair of the vice mayor to bang the gavel as he “declared all those who declared me persona non grata in Davao persona non grata in the eyes of the Filipino people.”
This developed as Vice Mayor Sebastian Duterte said the city council treated Bello, during the visit of the latter, treated him fairly.
“We live in a democratic society where everyone must be treated fairly and equally,” said Duterte, adding that the city council session hall is open to anyone who wants to visit it.
“It is not clear to us what their intentions are. It is campaign season and this maybe their way to gain traction and attention, to their ailing campaign or for other reasons only known to them. ” Makita ra ninyo ug unsang klase ni na mga tawo,” Duterte added in the statement.
He said Bello’s visit “must only be ignored and disregarded” as the local legislative body has other important issues to attend to.
In his 12-page counter-affidavit on the P10 million cyber libel case filed against him, Bello disowned the posting on social media of the subject article, saying it was the group that handled the account that posted it.
The post that he was referring to was the one that implicated Tupas in illegal drugs after a raid in Mabini, Davao de Oro implicated the latter in the incident which resulted in the termination of the latter from his job.
“The page ‘Walden Bello’ cannot be solely attributed to herein respondent Bello because he does not control the same. He does not even have administrator or moderator status in the said Facebook page. Hence, from this fact alone, respondent Bello cannot be made liable for libel,” he said in his counter-affidavit.
He argued that since the liability of posting an article on social is personal in nature, he must not be punished for the post because conspiracy could not be established.
“It must be stressed that the complainant has not adduced a single electronic evidence to prove that the undersigned personally published the FB (Facebook) post which is the subject-matter of the complaint, and that the account Walden Bello where the contested post was published in the personal account,” the counter-affidavit said.
It added: “Even assuming arguendo that I am the one who posted the subject Facebook post, a cursory reading thereof would show that it was stated in a matter-of-factly tone and based only on established acts. There is nothing malicious in asking questions.”
Espiritu, also part of Bello’s legal team, said the post was not directed at Tupas but at Mayor Sara Duterte, Bello’s rival for the vice presidential post, as the former city official was only mentioned as a “footnote.”
“The subject of material is Sara Duterte, not Jefry Tupas, there is nothing at all, na directed at Jefry Tupas herself. We wanted Sara Duterte to debate with him and explain news reports about Jefry Tupas,” Espiritu told reporters who covered the filing of the counter-affidavit.
