The camp of vice presidential candidate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte has condemned the recent tirades and actions of rival VP candidate Walden Bello pointed towards Duterte and her camp.
“The Cyberlibel complaint filed against Walden Bello, his Persona Non-Grata status, and his deliberate failure to disclose information and cooperate with law enforcement on alleged illegal drug activities, are but the result of his own actions and utterances,” said Duterte’s spokesperson and Liloan, Cebu Mayor Christina Frasco in a statement, morning of Thursday, April 21.
“This has nothing to do with Mayor Sara Duterte or the debates as Mr. Bello himself is the author of his own fate, having paraded blatant lies and peddled falsehoods with nary a concern for the truth,” she continued.
Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) bet Bello was declared a Persona Non-Grata (unwelcome person) in Davao City by the City Council following his claims that Davao acts as “a drug center of the south.”
“Davao as the drug center of the south under the control of a member of a Duterte family. My god, this is something... we need to bring this out so that the people can examine the record of Sara Duterte,” Bello previously said during a Commission on Elections (Comelec) VP debate in which Duterte was absent.
Bello was also slapped with a cyberlibel complaint filed by former Davao City Information Office head and Duterte aide Jefry Tupas following the former’s allegations that the latter was involved with illegal drugs.
Tupas, in November 2021, was caught at a Davao De Oro beach party in which P1.5 million worth of shabu and illegal drugs were found by the police, despite protests that they had left before the police arrived and that they had not partaken in the illegal substances.
The PLM bet filed a counter-affidavit in Davao City on April 20, denying Tupas’ claims.
Frasco then cited Bello’s "stunt" in the Davao City Sangguniang Panlungsod on April 20.
“Pulling stunts like he did today by making a mockery of the revered halls of Davao City’s Sangguniang Panlungsod only serves to further insult the peace-loving people of Davao and reveal the true nature of his character,” Frasco continued in her statement.
He entered the Davao City Council Session Hall, sat in Vice Mayor Sebastian Duterte’s seat, and even slammed the gavel.
“Today while presiding at the Davao City Council, I declared all those who declared me persona non grata in Davao persona non grata in the eyes of the Filipino people,” Bello jokingly tweeted on April 20, with an image of him in Duterte's seat attached.
Bello is running for vice president under PLM and is running mate to labor leader–presidential candidate Leodegario “Ka Leody” De Guzman.