(See English version at the bottom.) Profile ni Dr. Walden Bello, Kandidato para sa Senado ng Republika ng Pilipinas Mula sa Walden Bello for Senator Movement Nagbitiw si Rep. Walden Bello mula sa Kongreso noong 19 March 2015, dahil hindi na niya masuportahan ang ipokritong paggamit ni Pangulong Aquino ng patakarang “Daang Matuwid” upang tugisin ang kaniyang mga kalabang pulitikal, habang prinoprotektahan naman ni Aquino ang mga tiwaling kaibigan. Ang kaniyang pagbibitiw ay isang protesta din laban sa hindi pagtanggap ng Pangulo sa kaniyang pananagutan sa trahedya ng Mamasapano. Pakiramdam ni Walden ay etikal at lohikal na hakbang na boluntaryong magbitiw mula sa Kongreso dahil patuloy pa ring sinusuportahan ng Akbayan, ang partido na kinakatawan niya bilang pangunahing representante, ang administrasyong Aquino. Siya pa lang marahil, sa buong kasaysayang lehislatibo ng Pilipinas, ang natatanging nagbitiw ng kaniyang posisyon sa Kongreso dahil sa prinsipyo. Isa si Walden sa mga nagtatag ng Akbayan, the Citizens’ Action Party, at siya ang nagsilbing kauna-unahang chairperson nito. Epektibong Mambabatas Sa kaniyang anim na taon sa Kongreso bilang representante ng Akbayan (2009-2015), si Walden ang pangunahing awtor ng maraming batas at mga panukalang nagsusulong ng kagalingan ng iba’t ibang sektor at ng buong sambayanang Pilipino sa kabuuan. Pinakamahalaga rito ang Reproductive Health Law, Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER) law, Amendment to the Overseas Voting Act, Martial Law Human Rights Compensation Law, at ang Fair Competition Act. Naipasa na sa Mababang Kapulungan ang kaniyang panukalang batas na nagpapatibay sa karapatan ng mga OFW na maisauli nang buo ang kanilang money claims para sa mga di-tapos na kontrata, at hinihintay na lamang ang pagpasa nito sa Senado. Isa rin siya sa mga masugid na tagataguyod ng Security of Tenure Bill at ng Freedom of Information Bill. Itinulak din niya ang pribadong sektor na kilalanin ang mga karapatang pinagtibay batas. Kasama ni Rep. Arthur Robes, matagumpay na napuwersa ni Walden ang Mercury Drug na sundin ang batas at magbigay ng 20% diskuwento sa mga gamot na binibili ng mga kababayang may kapansanan. Sa Kongreso, nagsilbi siyang Chairperson ng Committee on Overseas Workers’ Affairs. Sa posisyong ito, kasama siya sa pagliligtas ng mga OFW mula sa giyera sa Syria. Inimbestigahan niya ang mga opisyal ng gobyerno na naiulat na sangkot sa sekswal na pang-aabuso at pagkakalakal ng kababaihang manggagawa, at itinulak ang paghahain ng karampatang kaso laban sa mga opisyal na ito. Walang tigil si Walden sa pagbatikos ng mga bansang tulad ng Saudi Arabia na nagpapabaya at hinahayaang magpatuloy ang mga abuso laban sa mga OFW. Pinangunahan din niya ang mga misyong nagsisiyasat sa pagkakalakal at sa kalagayan sa paggawa ng mga OFW sa Estados Unidos, Saudi Arabia, Syria, at Hong Kong. Sa harap ng pagkabahala sa ugnayang panlabas ng Pilipinas, isinulat ni Walden ang House Resolution na nagpalit ng pangalan ng South China Sea upang maging West Philippines Sea, isang inisyatiba na sinuportahan at inako ng Department of Foreign Affairs, at sa kalaunan, ng Malacanang. Binuo rin niya ang isang delegasyon ng mga mambabatas na nagsagawa ng kauna-unahang bisita ng isang sibilyang eroplano sa Pag-asa Island sa Spratlys, isang inisyatibang lubos na kinundena ng Tsina. Kasabay nito, mariin ding pinuna ni Walden ang pamahalaang Aquino sa pagbubukas nito sa Pilipinas sa malawakan at walang habas na pagpasok ng mga tropang militar ng Estados Unidos sa bisa ng Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, diumano’y upang kontrahin ang Tsina. Dalawang beses na siyang naghain ng joint resolution para sa pagpapawalang-bisa ng Visiting Forces Agreement, kasama ni Senador Miriam Santiago. Dahil sa kaniyang adbokasya para sa isang patakarang panlabas na hindi umaasa sa mga higanteng bansa, nasabi ni Pangulong Aquino na si Walden ay “mas oposisyon kaysa sa oposisyon.” Aktibista Laban kay Marcos Bago manungkulan sa Kongreso, masugid na aktibismo ang araw-araw na isinabuhay ni Walden. Nang matapos niya ang kanyang PhD sa Sosyolohiya mula sa Princeton University sa unang bahagi ng dekada ’70, tinalikuran niya ang buhay akademiko upang maging isa sa mga pangunahing lider ng kilusan laban sa diktaduryang Marcos sa Estados Unidos hanggang sa dekada ’80. Nabigyan siya ng political asylum ng pamahalaang Reagan. Mula sa Washington DC, binuo niya ang organisasyong Congress Task Force of the Philippine Solidarity Network, at naging aktibo sa Anti Martial Law Coalition, Friends of the Filipino People, at Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP). Kasama ng kaniyang kapwa aktibista, pinasok ni Walden ang World Bank sa Washington DC at kinupit ang mahigit 3000 pahina ng dokumentong kompidensiyal, na nagsilbing pangunahing materyal para sa kaniyang aklat na Development Debacle: the World Bank in the Philippines. Marami ang nagsabing ang mga sikretong ibinunyag sa aklat na ito ay nakatulong sa pagpapabagsak sa rehimeng Marcos. Ilang ulit naaresto si Walden ng mga pulis sa Estados Unidos dahil civil disobedience. Una siyang naaresto nang binarahan niya ang isang operasyon ng Institute for Defense Analysis sa Princeton University, sa kalagitnaan ng pagsalakay ng gobyerno ni Richard Nixon sa Cambodia noong 1970. Pinangunahan din niya ang take-over ng Woodrow Wilson School ng Princeton University bilang protesta sa paglusob ni Nixon sa Laos noong 1972. Inaresto din siya dahil sa mga aksiyong sibil laban sa rehimeng Marcos, International Monetary Fund, at World Bank. Kabilang dito ang kaniyang paggambala ng isang konsiyerto sa Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts sa Washington DC, bilang protesta sa pagdalo ni Imelda Marcos. Nakulong di si Walden sa San Francisco County Jail nang pinangunahan niya ang mapayapang takeover o agaw-poder ng Philippine Consulate sa San Francisco noong 1978, isang protesta na marahas na pinatigil ng SWAT team ng lungsod. Pinagunahan ni Walden ang isang linggong hunger strike na nagdulot ng pagpapalaya ng mga nagprotesta mula sa kulungan. Sa pagbagsak ng rehimeng Marcos noong Pebrero 1986, nanguna muli si Walden sa okupasyon ng Philippine Embassy sa Washington DC sa ngalan ng sambayanang Pilipino. Pinatalsik nila ang mga tauhan ng diktador, at inilipat ang pamamahala ng embahada sa mga kinatawan ng bagong gobyerno. Isa si Walden sa mga pangunahing pandaigdigang aktibista na nasa makasaysayan at malawakang protesta na nagpabagsak sa Third Ministerial Meeting ng World Trade Organization sa Seattle noong Disyembre 1998. Bugbog ang inabot ni Walden sa mga pulis ng Seattle, kahit pa hindi naman siya umiwas sa pagkaaresto. Dahil sa ilang ulit siyang naaresto sa US bunsod ng pakikibaka para sa mga progresibong layunin, palagian siyang pinadadaan sa mas mahigpit na screening ng US immigration sa tuwing dumarating siya sa Amerika. Aktibista laban sa Globalisasyong Proyekto ng mga Korporasyon Hindi lamang ang sitwasyon sa Pilipinas ang ikinababahala ni Walden. Nakapagsulat na rin siya ng mga pag-aaral, libro, at daan-daang artikulo tungkol sa epekto ng globalisasyon at ng mapanakop na paghahari ng Estados Unidos sa Chile, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Tsina, Hapon, Gitnang Silangan, at Europa. Upang lalong maunawaan at malinawan ang galaw ng pandaigdigang ekonomiya, nagsilbi si Walden bilang Executive Director ng Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First), isang organisasyong nakabase sa San Francisco, mula 1990-1994. Isa rin siya sa mga bumuo ng Focus on the Global South, isang organisasyon sa pananaliksik, adbokasya at think-tank na nakabase sa Bangkok, at nagsilbi bilang Executive Director nito mula 1995-2007. Sa kasalukuyan, isa siyang kasapi ng Transnational Institute na nakabase sa Amsterdam, kung saan nagsasaliksik siya tungkol sa mga isyu ng pandaigdigang repormang pinansiyal. Dahil sa kaniyang mapanuring pananaliksik ukol sa globalisasyon at mga higanteng korporasyong nagtutulak nito, ginawaran si Walden ng Right to Livelihood Award (kilala din bilang alternatibong Nobel Prize) sa Stockholm noong 2003. Pinarangalan din siya bilang Outstanding Public Scholar ng International Studies Association sa kanilang taunang kumperensiya noong 2008. Tanyag na Guro at Iskolar Kilala din si Walden sa larangan ng akademya at pagtuturo. Naging Professor of Sociology si Walden sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas - Diliman mula 1994-2009. Isa rin siyang Adjunct Professor sa State University of New York sa Binghamton, at naging visiting professor, fellow, o lecturer sa St. Mary’s University sa Halifax, Canada, University of California – Los Angeles, University of California - Santa Barbara, University of California - Riverside, at University of California -Berkeley. Sa kasalukuyan, siya ang activist-in-residence sa A.E. Havens Center for Social Justice sa University of Wisconsin - Madison. Si Walden ang may-akda o kapwa may-akda ng 20 libro, kabilang na ang State of Fragmentation: the Philippines in Transition (Bangkok: Focus on the Global South, 2014), Capitalism’s Last Stand? (London; Zed, 2013), Food Wars (London: Verso, 2009), Dilemmas of Domination (New York: Henry Holt, 2005), The Anti-Development State: the Political Economy of Permanent Crisis in the Philippines (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2004), A Siamese Tragedy (London: Zed, 1998), Dragons in Distress (New York: Penguin, 1990), American Lake: the Nuclear Peril in the Pacific (New York: Penguin, 1988), at Development Debacle: the World Bank in the Philippines (San Francisco: Institute for Food and Development Policy, 1982). May PhD sa Sociology mula sa Princeton University (1975) at Bachelor of Arts in the Humanities mula sa Ateneo de Manila University (1966) si Walden. Ginawaran din siya ng mga doctoral degree honoris causa ng Murdoch University sa Australia (2013) at Panteion University sa Athens, Greece (2006). Kasal si Walden kay Suranuch Bello, isang Thai. (Salin mula sa Ingles nina Cecilia Ochoa at Jean Enriquez. Ang mga larawan ay kuha nina Joseph Purugganan at Ellene Sana.) --- Profile of Dr. Walden Bello, candidate for the Senate of the Republic of the Philippines Released by the Walden Bello for Senator Movement Rep. Walden Bello resigned from Congress on March 19, 2015, because he could no longer support a hypocritical good governance policy under which President Aquino went after his political enemies but protected his corrupt cronies. His resignation was also an act of protest at the president’s refusal to accept command responsibility for the Mamasapano tragedy. He felt that his voluntary stepping down was the ethical thing to do since his party Akbayan, of which he was the principal representative in the House of Representatives, maintained its support for Aquino. He is probably the only person in the legislative history of the Philippines to resign his seat out of principle. Walden was one of the founders and served as the first chairperson of Akbayan, the Citizens’ Action Party. Effective Legislator During his six years in the House of Representatives as representative of Akbayan (2009-2015), Walden was a principal author of many laws and bills promoting the welfare of diverse groups of citizens and the citizenry as a whole, the most important being the Reproductive Health Law, Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER) law, Amendment to the Overseas Voting Act, Martial Law Human Rights Compensation Law, and the Fair Competition Act. His bill institutionalizing the right of OFWs to full money claims for unfinished contracts was approved by the House and awaits approval in the Senate. He was also one of the foremost champions of the Security of Tenure Bill and the Freedom of Information Bill. Pushing the private sector to respect rights established by law, Walden, together with Rep. Arthur Robes, successfully forced Mercury Drug to follow the law and give a 20 per cent discount on medicines purchased by people with disabilities. He served as chairman of the Committee on Overseas Workers’ Affairs, in which capacity he participated in the rescue of OFWs from war zones in Syria, investigated and pushed for the prosecution of government officials engaged in sexual exploitation and trafficking of women workers, relentlessly criticized countries such as Saudi Arabia for their toleration of abuses of OFWs, and led missions to investigate labor trafficking and labor conditions of OFWs in the United States, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Hong Kong. Concerned about the country’s foreign relations, Walden authored the House resolution renaming the South China Sea the West Philippines Sea, an initiative that was supported and adopted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and, eventually Malacanang. He also assembled a legislators’ mission that made the first visit by a civilian airplane to Pag-Asa Island in the Spratlys, an initiative bitterly condemned by China. At the same time, Walden has strongly criticized the Aquino administration’s opening up of the Philippines to the large-scale and uncontrolled entry of US troops via the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, ostensibly to counter China. He has twice co-authored a joint resolution seeking abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement with Senator Miriam Santiago. Because of his advocacy for a policy independent of the superpowers, President Aquino criticized him as “mas oposisyon kaysa sa oposisyon.” Anti-Marcos Activist Prior to serving in Congress, Walden led a life of consistent activism. Upon completion of his PhD in sociology in Princeton University in the early seventies, he gave up an academic career to become, over the next decade, one of the leaders of the anti-dictatorship movement in the United States in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Granted political asylum during the Reagan administration, he founded the Washington-based Congress Task Force of the Philippine Solidarity Network and was active in the Anti-Martial Law Coalition, Friends of the Filipino People, and Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP). Together with his associates, Walden broke into the World Bank in Washington, DC, and stole over 3000 pages of confidential documents, which provided the raw material for the expose Development Debacle: the World Bank in the Philippines that, many say, contributed to the downfall of the Marcos regime. Walden was arrested several times for civil disobedience by US police, his first arrest being for obstructing the operation of the Institute for Defense Analysis of Princeton University during Richard Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia in 1970. He led the takeover of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School during Nixon’s invasion of Laos in 1972. He was also later arrested for acts of civil disobedience against the Marcos regime, the International Monetary Fund, and World Bank. Among these acts was the disruption of a concert at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, in 1980 to protest the presence of Imelda Marcos. He was incarcerated in the San Francisco County Jail for leading the non-violent takeover of the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco in 1978, an act of protest that was brutally repressed by the city’s SWAT team. Walden spearheaded a week-long hunger strike that led to the release of the protesters from jail. During the collapse of the Marcos regime in Feb 1986, Walden led the occupation of the Philippine Embassy in Washington in the name of the Filipino people, dismissed the personnel of the defunct dictatorship, and handed the building to the representatives of the new government. One of the leading global activists present during the historic mass protest that triggered the collapse of the Third Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle in Dec 1998, Walden was beaten up by police, though he was not resisting arrest. Owing to his arrest record for progressive causes during his years in the US, Walden was for a long time subjected to secondary screening by immigration officials every time he landed on American soil. Activist against Corporate-driven Globalization Walden has not only been concerned with conditions in the Philippines; he has also written studies, books, and hundreds of articles on the impact of globalization and US imperial hegemony in Chile, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, China, Japan, the Middle East, and Europe. Seeking to understand and throw light on the dynamics of the global economy, Walden served as Executive Director of the Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First), based in the San Francisco Bay Area, from 1990 to 1994. He also co-founded the Bangkok-based research and advocacy think-tank Focus on the Global South and served as its executive director from 1995 to 2007. Currently, he is an associate of the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute, where he is looking into global financial reform. For his critical work on corporate-driven globalization, Walden received the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize, in Stockholm in 2003. He was also named Outstanding Public Scholar by the International Studies Association during its annual conference in San Francisco in 2008. Distinguished Teacher and Scholar Walden has also had a distinguished academic career. He was Professor of Sociology at the University of the Philippines at Diliman from 1994 to 2009. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton and has served as a visiting professor, fellow, or lecturer at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Canada, UCLA, University of California at Santa Barbara, University of California at Riverside, and University of California at Berkeley. Currently, he is activist-in-residence at the A.E. Havens Center for Social Justice at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Walden is author or co-author of about 20 books, among which are State of Fragmentation: the Philippines in Transition (Bangkok: Focus on the Global South, 2014), Capitalism’s Last Stand? (London; Zed, 2013), Food Wars (London: Verso, 2009), Dilemmas of Domination (New York: Henry Holt, 2005), The Anti-Development State: the Political Economy of Permanent Crisis in the Philippines (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2004), A Siamese Tragedy (London: Zed, 1998), Dragons in Distress (New York: Penguin, 1990), American Lake: the Nuclear Peril in the Pacific (New York: Penguin, 1988), and Development Debacle: the World Bank in the Philippines (San Francisco: Institute for Food and Development Policy, 1982). Walden has a PhD in Sociology from Princeton University (1975) and a Bachelor of Arts in the Humanities degree from Ateneo de Manila University (1966). He was also awarded doctoral degrees honoris causa by Murdoch University in Australia (2013) and Panteion University in Athens, Greece (2006). Walden is married to Suranuch Bello, a Thai national. (Translated into Filipino by Cecilia Ochoa and Jean Enriquez. The photos were provided by Joseph Purugganan and Ellene Sana.) ‪#‎WaldenBelloForSenator‬ ‪#‎PHVote‬