On Monday, 8 August 2022, Dr. Walden Bello was arrested on two counts of libel and cyber libel filed by a former staff of Vice President Sara Duterte over statements made by Bello during the electoral campaign. Bello ran as a candidate for the vice-presidency, for the Partido Lakas ng Masa (Party of the Laboring Masses), in opposition to the right-wing ticket. The following set of statements were put out at the time of Walden’s arrest and over the last week. The harassment and charges are raising more general fears of persecution of progressive forces in the Philippines with the return of a member of the Marcos family to the presidency under the leadership of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the banner of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (Federal Party of the Philippines).