Get to know Walden Bello before elections 2022; his background, educational political achievements, and other details.

The May 9 elections are just a few weeks away. So, it is high time that we get to know our candidates to choose the right people to take the highest positions in our country. The Know Your Elections 2022 Candidate is a series of blogs containing fact-based information from the candidates’ official websites and other credible sources.

Below is the list of Presidential Candidates for Elections 2022 included in this series:

• Leody de Guzman
• Isko Moreno Domagoso
• Ping Lacson
• Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
• Manny Pacquiao
• Leni Robredo

Below is the list of Vice Presidential Candidates for Elections 2022 included in this series:

• Lito Atienza
• Walden Bello
• Mayor Sara Duterte
• Willie Ong
• Francis Pangilinan
• Vicente Sotto III

Vice-Presidential Candidate: Walden Flores Bello a.k.a. Walden Bello

Walden Bello is the vice-presidential aspirant of the De Guzman-Bello tandem, with Ka Leody De Guzman as his running partner during the elections in 2022. Below are his personal, educational, and political details.

Walden Bello: Personal Information

Born on November 11, 1945, in Cardona, Rizal, Philippines, Walden Bello is the son of Jesse Bello and Luz Flores. He married Suranuch Thonsila, an executive at the Thailand-based Siam Cement Group in 2015.

Walden Bello: Educational Information

Walden Bello completed his college degree at Ateneo de Manila University in 1966 with a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities. He then pursued Masters in Sociology and Ph.D in Sociology at Princeton University in 1972 and 1975 respectively.

Walden Bello: Non-political Work History

Walden Bello is the executive director of Focus on the Global South, a sociology professor at the University of the Philippines, and a Transnational Institute fellow. He is a leading critic of the current economic globalization model, combining intellectual and activist roles.

As a human rights and peace campaigner, academic, environmentalist, and journalist, he has made a significant contribution to the international case against corporate-driven globalization through a combination of courage as a dissident, an extraordinary breadth of published output, and personal charisma.

Walden Bello: Political Information

In 1972, Walden Bello was pursuing a Ph.D. in sociology at Princeton when Ferdinand Marcos took power. That was when he became involved in political activism, earning his Ph.D. but not returning to the university for another 20 years. Over the next two decades, he rose to prominence as a key figure in the international movement to restore democracy in the Philippines, co-ordinating the Anti-Martial Law Coalition and establishing the Philippines Human Rights Lobby in Washington.

For years, Bello has advocated for the withdrawal of US military bases in the Philippines, Okinawa, and Korea, and has assisted in the formation of several regional coalitions dedicated to denuclearisation and demilitarization, as well as a new type of security plan based on meeting people’s needs.

In the 2016 elections, he ran as an independent for senator but failed to secure a seat, finishing 36th with only 2.41 percent of the vote.

Prior to that, from 2009 to 2015, he was a member of the Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party. His second term was cut short on March 19, 2015, when he resigned due to “irreconcilable differences” with the party over its support for the Aquino administration, citing President Benigno Aquino’s refusal to accept command responsibility for the Mamasapano clash.

Below is the list of his work experiences.

• Professor, University of the Philippines (retired)
• Co-founder, Focus on the Global South
• Adjunct Professor of Sociology, State University of New York at Binghamton
• Akbayan Representative, 14th Congress, served from 2009 to 2010
• Akbayan Representative, 15th Congress, 2010 to 2013
• Akbayan Representative, 14th Congress, 2013 to 2015 (resigned)
• Board of Directors, International Forum on Globalization
• Board of Directors, Center for Economic and Policy Research
• Member, Greenpeace Southeast Asia

Walden Bello: Accomplishments

Following the Supreme Court’s decision in BANAT vs. Comelec in 2009, Akbayan was given an additional seat in the House of Representatives, with Bello filling the remainder of the term. In 2010 and 2013, he was re-elected.

As a legislator in the lower house, Walden Bello authored at least six laws.

• Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013 (R.A. 110368)
• Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012 (R.A. 10354)
• Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (R.A. 9700)
• An Act Repealing the Crime of Premature Marriage under Article 351 of Act No. 3815, or the Revised Penal Code (R.A. 10655)
• Philippine Competition Act (R.A. 10667)
• Sangguniang Kabataan Reform Act of 2015 (R.A. 10742)

During the Martial Law regime, Walden Bello began his activism by coordinating the Anti-Martial Law Coalition and joining the international movement to restore democracy in the Philippines.

Following that, he researched, wrote about, and advocated for anti-globalization, demilitarization, and alternative mechanisms for resolving economic, environmental, and security issues at the national, regional, and global levels. Some of them include:

• Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far Right
• Paper Dragon: China and the Next Clash
• Capitalism’s Last Stand? Deglobalization in the Age of Austerity
• The Food Wars

Walden Bello has also written and edited several nonfiction books. The following are a few examples:

• A Siamese Tragedy: Development and Disintegration in Modern Thailand (1999), with co-author Shea Cunningham
• Global Finance: New Thinking on Regulating Speculative Capital Markets (2000), editor, with co-editor Nicola Bullard
• Deglobalization: Ideas for a New World Economy: Global Issues (2005)
• Dilemmas of Domination: The Unmaking of the American Empire (2005)
• The Anti-Development State: The Political Economy of Permanent Crisis in the Philippines (2006), with co-authors Herbert Docena, Marissa de Guzman, and Mary Lou Malig
• The Food Wars (2009)
• Capitalism’s Last Stand?: Deglobalization in the Age of Austerity (2013)
• Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far Right (2019)
• Paper Dragons: China and the Next Crash (2019)

Walden Bello: Affiliations

• Communist Party of the Philippines (1970s–early 1990s) 
• Akbayan (1990s–2015) 
• PLM (2021-present)

Awards and Citations

• Right Livelihood Award (2003)
• Outstanding Public Scholar (2008)
• Suh Sang Don Prize in South Korea (2001)

Trending Topics

Sara Duterte’s former information officer files P10 million cyber libel charges against Walden Bello

Former Davao City information officer Jefry Tupas filed a cyber libel complaint against former Akbayan party-list congressman Walden Bello on March 7, 2022, seeking P10 million in damages.

Tupas claimed in her complaint to the Davao City prosecutor’s office that Bello falsely accused her of being a drug addict and dealer on social media.

Tupas became involved in controversy after attending a beach party in Mabini, Davao de Oro, which was raided by narcotics agents on November 6, 2021.

The raid allegedly took place an hour after Tupas and her companions had left the party. Several of those arrested, however, claimed that she was let go after she allegedly revealed her identity to law enforcement. Tupas lost her job due to the controversy. She was fired just as she signified her intention to resign on November 7.

Tupas stated that she was hurt when Bello criticized Duterte for missing a recent vice presidential debate and posted on his Facebook wall saying “Sara with a drug dealer? If Davao City is so ‘multi-awarded,’ why is it that… Mayor Duterte’s Press Information Officer Jefry Tupas was nabbed at a beach party where he and her friends were snorting P1.5 million worth of drugs on November 6, 2021? That she did not know she was sheltering a drug dealer is not credible.”

“Mr. Bello’s false, defamatory, and malicious utterances and posts against me which were published in social media have maligned, injured, and defamed me and exposed my good reputation to public hatred, contempt, discredit, and public ridicule,” she said.

On the other hand, Walden Bello said that Tupas’s cyber liber complaint is “clearly a politically-motivated move.”

In the CNNPH debate, Bello creates a stir and riles fellow VP bets

The former lawmaker used the opportunity to criticize his opponent, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, and her presidential running mate, Bongbong Marcos, for their absence from debates, including those hosted by CNN Philippines.

In two heated speeches, Bello hurled expletives at Duterte on live television, calling her a coward. He then used his closing remarks to criticize the Marcos-Duterte tandem for their lack of respect for Filipino voters.

Bello also went on the offensive against his other opponent, Senate President Tito Sotto. On several occasions, he accused the veteran lawmaker of being a traitor after supporting President Rodrigo Duterte’s dubious programs for the majority of his term.

He also argued with Sotto and Sen. Kiko Pangilinan for their “pro-US” response to China’s incursions in the West Philippine Sea.

His microphone was temporarily turned off for interrupting his fellow candidates, which violated debate rules that had been agreed upon by all participants. – WhatALife!

Source: (votepilipinas.com), (waldenbello.org), (rappler.com), (cnnphilippines.com)

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Also read: Know Your Elections 2022 Presidential Candidate: Leodigario “Leody” Quitain de Guzman