DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 22 February)—The trial of defeated vice presidential candidate Walden Bello for the two counts of cyber libel charges has been scheduled for Feb. 26 at the Regional Trial Court Branch 10 in Davao City.
The hearing was originally set for Feb. 1 but it was postponed following the work and classes suspension order issued by the city government due to the inclement weather caused by a trough of the low pressure area affecting parts of Mindanao.
In an information released Tuesday, the legal team of Bello expects the prosecution to present their witnesses in support of the cyber libel charges filed by Jefry Tupas.
Tupas was the former city information officer of Davao and is now Chief of the Media and Public Relations Division under the Office of the Vice President.
Bello will be represented by lawyers Estrella Elamparo and Danny Balucos, his lead counsels in Manila and Davao, respectively.
Bello’s legal team said that the charges were “condemned globally” as an example of strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP), or an action brought against any person “with the intent to harass, vex, exert undue pressure or stifle any legal recourse.”
“Support for Walden’s defense and against the criminalization of libel strengthens. The legal team earlier filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging the criminalization of libel,” they said.
The charges against Bello were based on his alleged defamatory statements on social media.
In June 2022, the Office of the City Prosecutor here found “defamatory” Bello’s statement, delivered during a live interview and later posted on his verified Facebook account on March 1, 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 (Sara) 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.”
In an interview last August 2023, Elamparo told reporters that the statements of Bello could be considered as a “qualifiedly privileged communication.”
“We can consider it as a qualifiedly privileged communication. It’s privileged because his statements are made in connection with the supposed acts of a public officer, which was very relevant during the time the statement was made because this was the time of the election campaign,” she said.
Elamparo said Bello uttered the alleged defamatory statement in the context of then vice-presidential candidate Sara Duterte’s refusal to attend debates.
“As we know, during elections, the credibility, the integrity, the sense of judgment of candidates become very relevant because we make our decision whether to vote for someone on the basis of his qualifications. If, for instance, a candidate is coddling or tolerating the criminal act of one of his assistants or officials, that will be relevant in the course of discussion during the elections,” she said.
Elamparo said that Bello’s statements were a matter of public interest.
She said the alleged defamatory statements were based on the credible news outlets that reported on the controversial drug raid where Tupas allegedly figured in.
“It is very relevant, it’s a matter of public interest, it’s the public’s right to know. Why? Because it’s the public that’s paying the salary of the public official, and if that public official happens to be doing criminal acts, the public would have an interest in knowing that because we shouldn’t be paying out of our tax payments to an official who is a criminal,” she said.
Elamparo said the legal team remains optimistic that their client would be acquitted. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)