DoLE officials express support for Bello amid graft, treason charges
DEPARTMENT OF Labor and Employment (DoLE) officials on Thursday expressed support for Silvestre H. Bello III amid the revival of graft and treason charges filed against him in 2018. “While the sinister attacks may be directed against Secretary Bello, we believe that his tormentors are willfully destroying the institution by maliciously implying that its officials merely kowtow to the Secretary’s alleged ‘unauthorized’ acts in the performance of his duties,” reads a manifesto signed by four of the five DoLE undersecretaries, and the heads of the department’s bureaus and agencies. The cases against Mr. Bello, filed before the Ombudsman and the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), include graft, usurpation of authority, dishonesty, and treason for alleged secret meetings with Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria C. Sison, who is in exile in the Netherlands. Labor Undersecretary Jacinto V. Paras, who did not sign the manifesto, has previously denied allegations that he is behind the filing of the case before the PACC. — Gillian M. Cortez
