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Activist Walden Bello files COC as Leody De Guzman's running mate


Activist Walden Bello on Wednesday filed his candidacy papers to become labor leader Leody De Guzman’s running mate in the 2022 national elections.

Bello, chairperson of socialist Laban ng Masa, submitted his certificate of candidacy (COC) to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Manila through a representative.

“He is teaming up with presidential candidate Leody De Guzman to forward a comprehensive agenda not just for regime change but also systemic change,” Laban ng Masa said in a statement.

Bello replaced Partido Lakas ng Masa vice presidential candidate Raquel Castillo, who filed her COC on October 8.

The Comelec allowed the substitution of candidates until November 15.

A former Akbayan lawmaker, Bello vowed “to vigorously pursue accountability against the Marcoses and the Dutertes for their crimes against the people.”

He also claimed that the presidential bid of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., son and namesake of the late strongman, was being funded by “wealth extracted violently from the people.”

Bello was a principal author of three landmark laws: the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension Act of 2009, and the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013, which provided for the compensation of thousands of victims of human rights abuses victims during the Marcos regime. 

He is also the author of several books and a retired University of the Philippines professor.

Bello ran for senator in 2016, but lost. — VBL, GMA News

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