THE camp of former vice presidential candidate Walden Bello is urging Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla to review the cyberlibel case filed by Vice President Sara Duterte's aide against Bello.
In a statement forwarded to SunStar Davao, Bello's camp said Remulla should "walk the talk" on the latter's promise to "to speed up and unclog the notoriously slow justice system of the Philippines." In this case, they said the Justice Secretary to "to act on its Petition for Review and look into the spurious case of cyberlibel filed against Bello by Jefry Tupas, a former City Information Officer (CIO).
Bello's camp said they filed petition for review on July 29, 2022. However, it was dismissed on August 29 "based on mistaken and trivial procedural grounds—a supposed deficiency which we have actually complied with."
"We stated as much in a Motion for Reconsideration filed on August 31. Finally, we filed an Urgent Motion to Resolve the Petition on January 16, 2023," they said.
As of writing, they said Remulla has yet to act on their petition.
"In that regard, he has filed DOJ Circular No. 008 (directing prosecutors to immediately withdraw information or criminal charge in cases where there is no “reasonable certainty of conviction") and DOJ Circular No. 027 (underscoring the power of the Secretary of Justice to review resolutions of prosecutors even when a Petition for Review has not been filed). Such resolutions are good in theory, but useless without practice," the camp said.
Bello's camp said they would exhaust all legal means to acquit Bello from the case.
"For its part, the Walden Bello Legal Defense Committee would exhaust all legal means to ensure that justice is upheld in Dr. Walden Bello's case, and that the principles of free speech and democracy are protected in its resolution," they said.
Tupas formally filed a P10-million cyberlibel case complaint against Bello on March 7, 2022 after the latter posted online accusing the former CIO of being involved in a drug trade.
The City Council declared Bello "persona non grata" through a resolution on March 22, 2022 for his "malicious claims" of the city being the "drug center" of the southern part of the Philippines and that some of the big ticket projects are hounded with corruption.
Tupas is currently working for the Office of the Vice President as chief of the Media and Public Relations Division.
SunStar Davao is still trying to reach out to Tupas' camp for their comments.